Bhubaneswar: In the wake of rapid spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across the country, state government has formed a high power committee to take a decision on release of prisoners, to minimise crowd in jails.
Odisha State Legal Services Authority chairman will lead the committee while home secretary and Police DG are two other members of the panel. The committee will determine the category of prisoners, who should be released depending upon the nature of offence, the number of years which prisoner has been sentenced, severity of the offence, etc, said a notification issued by the home department, Thursday.
The panel would also review the cases of convicted and also under trial prisoners.
“The Committee is entrusted to take decision for release of prisoners who have been convicted or are undertrial for offences for which prescribed punishment is up to 7 years or less, with or without fine and the prisoner has been convicted for a lesser number of years than the maximum,” the order said.
The government has taken the decision after taking approval from Orissa High Court and as per the order of Supreme Court dated March 23, 2020.
