Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir government released 371 prisoners in the month of April, including 72 inmates who were lodged in various jails outside the UT under the Public Safety Act (PSA), in a bid to decongest jails amid Covid-19 pandemic.
371 prisoners have been released from jails within J&K and also from prisons outside the UT from April 1 to April 30, while dozens of other cases were currently under review.
The decision to release prisoners lodged in both J&K prisons as well as outside jails was taken to de-congest the jails in the wake of deadly Covid-19 pandemic to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
In J&K UT, Review Committee on the release of prisoners headed by Home Secretary took a series of review meetings to review the cases of prisoners to be released in a bid to de-congest UT prisons at a time when pandemic Covid-19 is holding a tight grip on J&K.
Figures of total inmates released from within and outside jails between April 1 to April 30 reveal that among 72 PSA detainees who were released, 19 were from Central Jail Kotbalwal, 43 from Central Jail Srinagar, four from Kathua Jail, one from Udhampur and one each from Anantnag, Baramulla and Kupwara prisons.
97 undertrials were also released from these jails after a decision by the Under-Trial Review Committee. Besides this, 160 other prisoners were also released over the past one month, figures reveal.
Interestingly, 64 detention orders of prisoners from J&K lodged in outside jails were revoked from April 1 to 30 and so far 43 PSA detainees were released.
Figures suggest that from Central Jail Agra (UP) 23 prisoners were released, while two were released from district jail Bareilly, UP, six from District Jail Ambedkar Nagar (UP) and three from District Prison Karnal, Haryana.
Meanwhile, families of many prisoners complained that their loved ones released from various prisons are facing a tough time while reaching home.
“Back home, we are not even being given permission to travel outside J&K or even to Jammu so that we could bring our loved ones back in our vehicles,” said a family member, whose relative was released from Agra jail. “Not even a single driver agrees to ferry them to Srinagar,” he said.
