Staff Reporter:
A writ petition has been filed on Sunday with the virtual High Court bench of the Supreme Court seeking its directives upon the government to ensure the health protection of the 89,000 prisoners and prison guards across the country by implementing the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir, a Supreme Court lawyer, filed the petition in the High Court bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan through email.
The lawyer said that he sought directions from the High Court for ensuring health protection of the prisoners and prison guards by executing the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Besides, the lawyer also prayed to the court to pass directions upon the government bodies including the jail authorities to inform the court what steps they have taken to protect the prisoners and the prison guards from the infection of the coronavirus.
Earlier on May 14, the lawyer sent a legal notice to the government and the prison authorities requesting to inform about the steps that have been taken to protect prisoners and the prison guards from the infection of the coronavirus.
As the respondents did not comply with the legal notice within the stipulated time the lawyer filed the writ petition, said the lawyer.
The writ petition said that the prisoners were the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Home secretary, law secretary, inspector general of police and inspector general of prisons have been made respondents in the writ petition.
The lawyer said that he had annexed a published report citing the jail authorities to has said now there are about 89,000 prisoners in 68 prisons across the country.
