AS the country grapples with the grave challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, the Islamabad High Court has taken a welcome initiative to provide relief to the overwhelmed criminal justice system, and ordered some necessary precautions.

The court has directed that 1,362 under-trial prisoners be released from Adiala jail; the cases of these individuals pertain to minor crimes and are pending before the high court. It has also ordered the Islamabad police not to make, for the foreseeable future, any further arrests of those involved in petty offences. The release has been ordered in an attempt to reduce overcrowding in jails and regulate visitation for those who cannot be released, as part of the larger action plan by the government to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

At present, 5,001 prisoners are incarcerated in Adiala jail against its sanctioned capacity of 2,174. Adiala jail, like other prisons in the country with their squalid living conditions and high turnover, could potentially become a hotbed for the spread of the virus, endangering the lives of not just the prisoners but thousands of others connected with the criminal justice system including their families.

The release of under-trial prisoners involved in petty crimes will also, to some extent, reduce the unnecessary movement and exposure of prisoners, police and court officials, thus helping limit the chance of their being infected by the dangerous virus that has gripped the world.

According to the Islamabad deputy commissioner, and representatives of the Islamabad police and federal health ministry, the release of under-trial prisoners is in line with a national action plan formulated by the government under WHO’s declaration of a ‘public emergency of international concern’. If indeed this is the case, then other high/superior courts should also make haste in taking similar steps to lessen the deadly impact of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Every move aimed towards reducing its spread will add up in eventually being able to beat the pandemic.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2020