ORDER/JUDGMENT MOHAMMAD RAFIQ, C. J. : – Mr. Sankalp Kochar, Advocate appeared as Amicus Curiae.

Mr. Pushpendra Yadav, Additional Advocate General for the respondent-State along with Mr. Arvind Kumar, Director General of Prisons and Mr. Sanjay Pandey, Deputy Inspector General of Jails.

Mrs. Giribala Singh, Member Secretary, Madhya Pradesh State Legal Services Authority, Jabalpur.

Proceedings in this suo motu writ petition were initiated on 7-5-2021 in view of unprecedented situation faced by the country following second wave of Coronavirus (COVID-19). The Coronavirus has engulfed the whole of the Madhya Pradesh and has spread across the width and length of the entire State. No segment of the society has remained untouched. Though not very alarming but reports about prisoners, both under-trial and convicted, being found infected with Coronavirus, keep surfacing at regular intervals here and there. Considering that all the Jails in the State are presently housing prisoners almost double the number of their capacity, need of the hour is to immediately decongest them. Urgency of th