GUWAHATI: The Nalbari District Jail Authority on Sunday released 45 undertrials as per a Supreme Court directive to decongest prisons in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Jail officials said the 45 inmates were from Nalbari, Kamrup and Baksa districts of Assam.
"After the guidelines of the Supreme Court in view of the situation due to CoronaVirus outbreak, we released them from jail. The released jail inmates included 10 from Nalbari, 20 from Baksa and 15 from Rangia of Kamrup," an official said.
The Nalbari District Jail Authority dropped the jail inmates at their respective homes.
Altogether 369 undertrials and convicts were lodged at the Nalbari District Jail as against the capacity to keep 155 prisoners.
Out of the total inmates, 63 persons have been convicted in various cases and 13 are women.
On Saturday, the Tezpur Central Jail released 41 prisoners as per the apex courts order to contain the spread of COVID-19.
On March 23, the Supreme Court had directed all states and Union Territories to constitute high-level committees to consider releasing on parole or interim bail prisoners and undertrials for offences entailing up to 7-year jail term to decongest prisons in the wake of CoronaVirus pandemic.
The top court had said overcrowding of prisons is a matter of serious concern, particularly in the present context of COVID-19.