CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has endorsed the quarantine process recommended by a high power committee (HPC) of Bihar for jails during the COVID-19 pandemic. The approval came after the attention of the court was drawn by Amicus Curiae Gautam Mishra on Thursday to the minutes of meeting of the committee.
Mishra pointed out the recommendation that said, "For the new inmates, 20 prisons/part of prisons have been declared as quarantine prisons where the new prisoners are kept for 14 days. They are provided with all essential things (mask, hand sanitiser, soaps, hot water, thermal screening etc.) for prevention of COVID infection."
The DG of Prisons informed the court that in most of the prisons in Odisha, new prisoners who test positive for Covid are not allowed to enter the jail and are sent to a separate COVID care centre.
In the order released on Friday, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray said, "Nevertheless, the court would like the DG to respond to the suggestion of the HPC, Bihar and examine to what extent the suggestion can be operationalised in jails of Odisha."