: The Madras High Court has dismissed
a PIL seeking a direction to utilise the services of convicts serving jail terms for assisting the government in providing security and other services relating to control of COVID-19 pandemic outside prisons.
A bench of Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice Pushpa Satyanarayana dismissed the public interest litigation from R Sreedhar, an advocate, observing that such a move was fraught with risk and also there was no such requirement made out by the petitioner or the state.
"We agree with the submission made by the government pleader that taking the services of the convicted people, presently in the jails, outside the jail premises may not only be fraught with risk, but there is no such requirement made out by either by the petitioner-in-person or by the state as of now," it said.
The employment of the jail inmates within the jail premises in different spheres for their reform has already been taking place in terms of the Prisons Act and the rules made there under, the bench said.
Therefore, bringing them outside the jails to assist the police personnel and other volunteers for security and other related purposes in COVID-19 situation was not considered necessary at this stage, it said.
"Therefore, we are not inclined to entertain this PIL and the writ petition is dismissed, it added.
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