Condemned Cells: Govt seeks stay on HC judgement on prisoners

The government yesterday filed a petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the High Court judgement that ordered the authorities concerned to move the prisoners, who were sentenced to death, to ordinary jail cells from condemned cells.

The attorney general's office submitted the petition on behalf of the state, saying it will file a leave to appeal petition with the Appellate Division, challenging the HC judgement after receiving the full text of the verdict.

The hearing on the stay petition will be held today, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told reporters at his office yesterday.

"We couldn't receive the full judgement of the High Court. However, I have learned that the High Court in the verdict has issued several directives and observations, including one for granting bail to the convicts sentenced to death and for formulating a new law. If the High Court verdict is not stayed at this stage, there may be problems."

Replying to a question, AG Amin Uddin said if the convicts,who have been sentenced to death, are granted bail, most of them will escape.

The HC delivered the verdict on Monday, saying that the prisoners, who have been sentenced to death, with pending appeals must not be kept in condemned cells. It ordered the authorities concerned to move such convicts from condemned cells to ordinary cells within two years, starting immediately.

The order was passed in response to a petition by three convicts on August 31, 2021.

In the verdict, the HC said prisoners, who have been sentenced to death by the trial courts, cannot be kept in condemned cells until their appeals, review petitions, and mercy petitions are disposed of by the HC, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, and the president of the republic, respectively.

Considering exceptional circumstances, any particular prisoner under the death sentence may be kept in solitary confinement if he or she has a contagious disease or mental health issues, only in the interest of the security of themselves or other prisoners. However, they must be given the opportunity to give their statements to the jail authorities before they are moved to condemned cells, the HC said.

Such prisoners may be kept in isolation for a limited period of three months as provided in Section-73 of the Penal Code and, in that case, they should be given relevant facilities, it said, adding that prisoners sentenced to death must be treated like other ordinary prisoners.

The HC bench said the prisoners should be allowed to file bail applications like other prisoners to seek bail from this court.

The court, in appropriate cases, should grant them bail under Section 426 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it said.

While formulating the new prisons act, the government should take into consideration the observations made in this judgment, the HC said.