Chennai: At least 153 remand prisoners are still in various prisons across the state even after being granted bail, Tamil Nadu govt informed the Madras high court on Monday. Additionally, 22 convict prisoners remain in prison despite the suspension of their sentences by the appellate courts.
The prison department made this submission on a suo motu proceedings initiated by the court based on a news report highlighting the plight of prisoners languishing in jail even after obtaining bail due to the lack of surety.
When the plea came up for hearing, the department submitted that there is a delay in receiving the bail orders from the district courts. As far as the high court is concerned, order copies are received immediately, it added.
A division bench of Justice S M Subramaniam and Justice M Jothiraman, recording the submissions, said: "It is necessary to implead the registrar-general of the high court to ensure that the processes in this regard are accelerated to ensure that the prisoners languishing unnecessarily in prisons are released by completing the formalities and by filing necessary petitions through the legal aid services before the competent court."
The member-secretary of the legal services authority submitted that swift actions will be taken in coordination with the high court registry, and necessary legal aid assistance will be provided to the prisoners across the state. This is to ascertain the number of prisoners languishing in prison even after being granted bail or suspension of sentence, as the case may be, after completing the necessary formalities.
Pointing to a govt order dated Feb 5, for implementing a central govt scheme for providing financial assistance to poor prisoners, the court directed the department to report details regarding the assistance already provided and to take all necessary steps to ensure that the eligible prisoners get the benefit of the scheme as per the GO.
The court then adjourned the hearing to Jan 6, 2025.