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A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction to the State Governments/ Union Territories/High Powered Committee (HPC) to formulate a uniform mechanism to decongest the prisons pan India, with respect to the release of prisoners aged above the age of 70.

The petition been filed by Social Activist Medha Patkar through Advocate Vipin Nair points out that according to WHO COVID-19 causes higher mortality among older persons, particularly in persons with underlying medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes, and cancer. 

Patkar has further submitted that considering the need for special assistance to the senior citizens the Ministry of Health, Government of India has issued a Health Advisory for Elderly Population of India during COVID19 highlighting the essentiality of maintaining social distancing so as to reduce the mortality rates amongst the prisoners.

It has been pointed out that the Supreme Court issued notices on March 3, 2020 in Suo Motu Writ Petition (In Re: Contagion of COVID-19 virus in Prisons) to all the States and Union Territories directed them to constitute a High-Powered Committee so as to determine the class of prisoners who can be released on emergency parole or interim bail.

On the basis of such a direction, the State Governments/ Union Territories constituted High Powered Committees (HPC) and most of the HPC have classified prisoners for being released on bail or parole on the basis of the gravity of crime and the likelihood of the prisoners to misuse the concession granted to them.

The petitioner has submitted that since most of the categorization of prisoners are based on social conditions and are based on factors of administrative convenience, the HPC have not taken into account the categorization of prisoners on the basis of their susceptibility to the infection and their need to be released on an urgent basis. “The most susceptible ones here are the aged/ elderly prisoners, who have a higher chance of getting infected (Specifically septuagenarian prisoners, i.e., above 70 years)”, states Patkar.

It has been submitted that from the statistics available on National Prison Information Portal and the approach adopted by the different High Power Committee of the States in dealing with the conditions and plight of the aged /elderly prisons, with a view to protect the Right of Health enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India of such prisoners, the Petitioner  has the approached the Court to direct the State Governments to adopt a uniform method for release either on interim bail or emergency parole to safeguard the interest of the elderly prisoners incarcerated for years together in the prisons across the State. 

CASE TITLE: Medha Patkar vs Union Of India and Others