Bail plea over email: High Court seeks State government’s response

A division bench comprising Justice Vineet Kothari and R Suresh Kumar ordered notice to the State returnable by April 8.

In his plea, advocate G Mohanakrishnan submitted that closing all courts owing to pandemic has led to several innocent  persons now in jails across TN, and not involved in heinous crimes, being unable to file bail applications.

Moreover, despite the Supreme Court direction to grant interim bails and decongest the prisons to ensure social distancing, the district and sessions judges in the State were refusing to grant bail for cases that were not heinous in nature and were instead adjourning the matter for 25 days. This deprived the prisoners of their constitutional rights, argued the petitioner, who is also the president of the Madras High Court Advocates Association.

As the subordinate court registry was not functioning, the prisoners were unable to file bail plea, he said.

Mohanakrishnan sought the bench to take up the issue suo motu and grant interim bail for those not involved in heinous crimes. Also, seeking a direction to the judicial officers to hear mandatory bail plea sent through e-mail, the plea added that if the petitions of those not accused of committing heinous crime was heard only after April 20, they would be put to serious prejudice and irreparable loss and injury.

The HC also ordered notice to the State on a plea seeking to immediately notify and convert the private colleges and their hostels into makeshift hospitals and isolation wards and provide accommodation to migrant workers 

The TN Prison Department, as part of preventive measures in the wake of COVID-19 upsurge, has earmarked separate jails in all districts to accommodate the new inmates.

All the prisoners now lodged in the earmarked prisons are being transferred to the nearest prison facility, a release said. The earmarked prisons are cleaned and disinfected so that the newcomers can be accommodated.

The new prisoners will be also allowed inside only after a through medical check and if any symptoms linked to COVID-19 is found then they will be sent to government hospitals.Till now the jail officials have been quarantining all the newcomers for 14 days wherever they are lodged. In Chennai, Saidapet sub-jail is earmarked for new prisoners.