A total of 338 inmates in have been released from jail in Mizoram in a bid to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission in overcrowded detention facilities.
The information and public relations department in a statement said that the prisoners were released according to the decision of a high power committee headed by Gauhati High Court judge Michael Zothankhuma, which was formed on the Supreme Court’s directive.
The government released 48 convicts and 290 undertrial prisoners, altogether 338, from various jails across the state by granting them remission, the statement said.
All deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of the districts were instructed to drop the prisoners at their homes.
The Supreme Court on March 23 directed all states and Union Territories to constitute high-level committees to consider releasing on parole or interim bail prisoners and undertrials for offences entailing up to 7-year jail term to decongest prisons in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.