Chief Justice of the Acting High Court goes beyond crime and punishment
A family of prisoners who have been housed in the Central Jail and Women’s Jail for a long time now had a smile on their cheeks thanks to the actions of Justice GS Sandhawalia, the acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Since the day they were found guilty in a case, they had not seen one another.
All of this occurred when Sessions Judge Munish Singal and the Acting Chief Justice were examining the women’s prison. Jashanpreet Kaur, a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder, asked to contact her father, Balwinder Singh, a resident of the Central Jail (for males), which shared the same grounds but had a different border wall.
Adopting a compassionate stance, the Acting Chief Justice instructed Vijay Kumar, the superintendent of the women’s jail, and Shivraj Singh Nandgarh, the superintendent of the central jail, to set up a meeting. When the lady saw her father and mother, it was all planned, and her grin was radiant. In addition, he gave the go-ahead for the authorities to supervise the monitoring of family members incarcerated in the Central Jail, Women’s Jail, and Borstal Jail, all of which are housed on the same property, at regular meetings.
110 prisoners who had been detained in jail for minor offenses were freed at the Mega Camp Court. The Acting Chief Justice expressed surprise that 36 people had been arrested for a minor offense for which they may be released on bond. The response from a senior police officer, stating that they had neglected to provide the necessary surety bonds, did not satisfy him. He thus gave them the order to release them after they provided their own security.
Additionally, Justice Sandhawalia spoke with 21 prisoners who had served more than 14 years in jail. He requested that the superintendent push applications for their early release ahead of the relevant CJMs. Additionally, he established a “tailoring unit” at the women’s prison and requested that educated undertrials or incarcerated individuals be used as laborers by the authorities.
