Don't oppose bail plea in 36 cases, recommends Buch committee

A high-powered standing committee constituted for reviewing the cases of undertrials languishing in Chhattisgarh jails on Wednesday recommended the state government not to oppose the bail plea of prisoners in 36 cases.

The eighth meeting on Wednesday of the committee, formed by the Chhattisgarh government, deliberated upon 57 sub-judice pending cases and took a decision in this regard.

"Today we reviewed 57 cases and have recommended that government should not oppose the bail pleas of undertrials in 36 of these cases," committee chairman and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary Nirmala Buch told reporters after the meeting at New Circuit House.

"The committee has minutely studied and reviewed every legal aspect in each of the cases, before making recommendations on it to the government. We have considered various crucial factors like importance, related incidents and sections etc, while reviewing the cases," she said.

The committee is making sincere efforts to have a meeting every month, so that all the cases pending since more than two years can be redressed at the earliest, she added.

Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand, Director General of Police AN Upadhyay, Additional Chief Secretary Home NK Aswal and Secretary Home Ashok Juneja were also present as members of the committee during the meeting.

The committee was formed as per an agreement between Naxalites and state government against the release of abducted the then Sukma Collector and IAS officer Alex Paul Menon, in May 2012.

The purpose of the committee is to review all cases of undertrials, who are in jails for 2 years or more, including those facing charges under Chhattisgarh Public Security Act.

The first meeting of the committee was held on May 3, 2012, the day Menon was released by Naxalites.

Before today's meeting, seven meetings of standing committee had been held, in which 'release on bail' was recommended in 189 cases.

Following these meetings, in 61 cases prisoners were released on bail, and in 48 cases undertrials were given clean chit. In 13 other cases, courts had sentenced the prisoners, an official here said.