[COVID-19] Gauhati High Court asks HPC to consider interim release of women prisoners declared "foreigners" with children aged less than 6

The Gauahati High Court recently noted that there are a number of women with children below six years who continue to languish in jails amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic after having been declared "foreigners." .A Bench headed by Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia called for the details of such women to be placed before the High Powered Committee (HPC) empowered to decide on the temporary release of prisoners amid the pandemic to decongest prisons. ."Under these strange and difficult circumstances of second wave of COVID-19 pandemic where a Higher Powered Committee of this Court is already seized with the matter and which has drawn certain principles on which jail inmates have to be released on temporary bail for three months or so, it would be in the best interest of everyone that this list be forwarded to the said High Powered Committee which shall look into this aspect and examine whether any of the inmates who are in the list can be released under these special circumstances of COVID-19 pandemic (2nd wave)", the Court said in a May 19 order..Earlier this month, the Court had taken note of details furnished by the State of Assam on children less than six years old who were lodged in jail along with their mothers, after these women were declared foreigners..The children were also lodged in jail with their mothers since the Jail Manual permits children less than six years of age to stay with their mothers in jail. .On May 11, the Court directed the State to give a list of all such women inmates who are eligible to be released from jail amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in line with the Supreme Court's 2020 ruling on the issue of decongesting jails during the pandemic. .On May 19, the Bench of Chief Justice Dhulia and Justice Achintya Malla Bujor Barua recorded that the State has placed before the Court a list of all female jail inmates in Assam having small children with them..The Court proceeded to direct that this list be placed before the High Powered Committee for a decision. Senior Government Advocate, R Dhar, undertook to place the list before the Committee..The orders were passed in a pending Public Interest Litigation case that was registered suo motu last year to look into the conditions of prisoners in Assam amid the COVID-19 pandemic. .The matter will be taken up next on May 28. .On a related note, concern was also recently raised in the Madras High Court over women prisoners having children less than six years in jail. .Senior Advocate R Vaigai raised the issue before a Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, which has been hearing the suo motu case registered to monitor COVID-19 management in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. .The Bench, in turn, observed that it whole-heartedly endorses the suggestion that such women inmates should also be considered for release on priority amid the pandemic, so that both mother and child are protected. The HPC was been directed to consider the interim release of such prisoners as well. .[Read the Gauhati High Court Orders]