JAMMU: Prisoners lodged at Central Jail Jammu and Kotbalwal Jail have made a representation to the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Jammu for “considering their release on conditional and temporary grounds,” in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has so far resulted in one death in Valley, while the positive cases have gone up to 28 in J&K.
The detainees, under-trials and convicts from Jammu Central Jail and Kot Bhalwal Jail have made a representation to the Chief Justice Jammu High Court through Superintendent of Jail central jail Jammu.
The detainees have sought their release on conditional and temporary grounds in view of the COVID-19 pandemic which is spreading fast.
“There are apprehensions that this pandemic disease may break out in jail having all the conducive and favourable environment,” the inmates said in a representation.
The inmates said that it is known to all that “jails in Jammu and Kashmir lack emergency and medical facilities even during normal conditions. The medical staff available in the jails is not even competent to control the common flu if it becomes viral. How can such incompetent and insufficient staff be able to prove of any help in such a critical situation.”
“It can prove very disastrous if an inmate gets exposed to the virus in the jail. We have no such options in the jail to maintain social distance as has been advised by the experts to prevent the spread of the disease,” they said.
The prisoners further pleaded that they being that they too are “part and parcel of this human society,” and urged the Chief Justice to attend to them “graciously and their genuine grievances will be compassionately addressed”.
The inmates further said that they are worried about their families as a countrywide lock-down has been announced and the meeting facility has also been discarded recently keeping in view the COVID-19 threat.

KR Desk