new delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday observed that its blanket order extending interim bail and parole to Delhis prisoners in view of the COVID-19 pandemic must be ended as the number of infections inside jails had been brought under control. The three jails in Delhi have a capacity of 10,000 and currently have 15,900 inmates, despite over 6,700 inmates out on interim bail or parole. The court remarked that their order was not meant to deal with overcrowding in prisons but to control the pandemic inside prisons here. The high courts remark came while hearing a petition filed by one of the prosecutors involved in the north-east Delhi riots cases. The plea claimed that as many as 20 riots accused were out on interim bail or parole and taking advantage of the courts blanket orders. The full bench headed by Chief Justice D N Patel on Tuesday said, "Let us bring to an end the COVID chapter. Let these people surrender or go back to jail. We passed the order in view of the pandemic. Our order has nothing to do with overcrowding of the jails. We are not concerned by the nature of the crimes. The COVID chapter is over. The other reasons for grant or extension of bail and parole can continue. We will go back to the situation that prevailed in January-February this year," he added. The bench also observed that the prison was taking care of the issue and those who had tested positive for COVID-19 in jails have been hospitalised. The Chief Justice said the judges of the full bench, also including Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh, will sit together and make a decision on whether to extend the blanket or not. Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra appeared for the DG Prisons and argued that removing the blanket order would go against the spirit of the Supreme Courts order with respect to decongesting prisons. He also submitted that the decongestion had not led to an increase in crimes. The high court on September 28 had said it will not permit the misuse of its orders and it will recall its extension order if it was being misused. The bench said, "If they (prisoners) are misusing it, we will stop it and then let them suffer."

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