New Delhi: A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh granted the Delhi government time to file a fresh affidavit to highlight how Covid-19 vaccination programmes are going on inside Delhi jails. The bench has asked for a report on those who are already lodged in prison, be it undertrials or convicts, and those who are newcomers there.
The high court has asked the government to file an affidavit highlighting the authorities' plan for administering the second dose to the inmates.
The high court has heard two pleas seeking vaccination of all the prisoners who were out on bail or parole before they surrender so as to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection inside prisons.The court observed that all those lodged in jail shall get the vaccines and those who are coming to prison from outside shall also be vaccinated. During the hearing, Delhi government standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi said he will file a fresh status report on the number of inmates that have already received the vaccine.
One of the two petitions has been moved by a 63-year-old woman convict serving life imprisonment in a murder case. She has sought that all prisoners, particularly those above 60 years who were out on bail, parole or furlough be vaccinated before their surrender. In her plea, filed through advocate Amit Sahni, the woman has also sought vaccination of jail staff, security persons and all prisoners in the national capital.
A similar plea was also moved by four lawyers — advocates Abhilasha Shrawat, Prabhash, Kartik Malhotra and Manav Narula — seeking directions to the Delhi government to "arrange and facilitate COVID-19 vaccination to all the prisoners who were out on bail".
The two petitions have claimed that as on January 14, there were 16,396 inmates in the three prisons in Delhi which together have a capacity of 10,026 and therefore, there was not sufficient space for maintaining social distance.
The bench has also asked the government to highlight how periodical health check ups are conducted on the inmates and listed the matter for further hearing on September 16.