New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday directed the Delhi government to inform about its COVID-19 vaccination drive which is going on in the jails here on the existing inmates and the newcomers. The high court asked the government to file an affidavit highlighting the authorities’ plan for administering a second dose on the prisoners.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh granted time to the Delhi government to file a fresh affidavit to highlight how vaccination program is going on in the jail on those who are already lodged in prison, be it undertrials or convicts, and those who are newcomers there.
It also asked the government also to highlight how periodically health check-up is conducted on the inmates and listed the matter for further hearing on September 16. The high court was hearing two pleas seeking vaccination of all the prisoners who were out on bail or parole before they surrender so as to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection inside prisons.
The court observed that all those lodged in jail shall get the vaccines and those who are coming to prison from outside shall also be vaccinated. During the hearing, Delhi government standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi said he will file a fresh status report on the number of inmates already vaccinated in the jail.
The court had in February issued notice on the petitions and asked the Delhi government to take action on the issue “immediately”. One of the two petitions has been moved by a 63-year-old woman convict serving life imprisonment in a murder case. She has sought that all prisoners, particularly those above 60 years who were out on bail, parole, or furlough be vaccinated before their surrender.