On a Sindh High Court order, the district courts have released 829 prisoners involved in minor crimes from the detention facilities across Sindh over the last few days amid the provincial government’s decision to categorise all prisoners.
According to a statement issued by the SHC registrar on Thursday, considering the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19), on the direction of SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh, 829 undertrial prisoners (UTPs) have been released from the prisons of the province by the district courts in the cases of lesser punishment. The officials at the subordinate judiciary said that as per the instructions of the chief justice, the judicial magistrates visited the detention facilities and heard the applications of prisoners pertaining to guilty plea in minor cases, bail applications and reduction in sureties and issued their release orders by sentencing them for a period they have already undergone, granted bails and reduced the amount of sureties. Other steps taken The SHC had already directed the provincial authorities for complete screening of inmates confined to all the detention facilities of the province in view of the coronavirus outbreak and to stop unnecessary entry of people on the jail premises. The SHC has also delisted all the cases except bail matters from March 24 till further orders to prevent the rapidly spreading Covid-19 while the civil work at the subordinate judiciary of the province has also been suspended since March 24 apart from urgent matters and bail applications.