The high power committee headed by former Madhya Pradesh chief secretary Nirmala Buch had recommended bail for 36 undertrials languishing in Chhattisgarh jails.
The committee headed by was constituted as a part of deal between Naxalities and Chhattisgarh Government for the release of abducted Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon in May 2012. It would be reviewing the cases of tribal undertrials in jail for more than two years. The Naxalites had demanded that innocent tribals had been illegally detained in Chhattisgarh jails.
This was the eighth meeting of the committee in which state’s chief secretary, director general of police and two other senior officials had been the members. The first meeting of the committee was held on May 3 last year, the day when the abducted collector was released by Naxalities.
In all there are around 990 undertrials in Chhattisgarh jails who have been in captivity for two years or more years. The committee so far had recommended bail in 189 cases. In 48 cases, the undertrials were acquitted.
In the meeting held Wednesday, the committee reviewed the 57 cases. “In the 36 cases, the committee has recommended bail for the undertrails (the state government will not oppose the bail plea of the undertrial),” Buch said after the meeting.
She said that the committee had minutely studied and reviewed every legal aspect in each of the cases, before making recommendations to the state government. Buch said that the committee was trying to meet every month so that all the cases that were pending could be redressed at the earliest.
