Prisoners from Insein jail released after govt order to withdraw their ongoing proceedings

Published 22 July 2021

The prisoners from Insein prison whose ongoing proceedings had been withdrawn were released today (July 22).

Those prisoners were released district-wise at about 3 pm on July 22 through the back gate of the prison. They were transported in YBS buses.

“Our batch is in western district. I had to spend a year and a half behind bars. We were released district-wise. A lot of prisoners were released,” said a man who was just released.

The release came following the government’s order to withdraw the ongoing criminal proceedings and release prisoners.

The State Administration Council issued the order (No 147/2021) on July 20.

The SAC released this order according to Section 419 of the Constitution to conduct effective measures against Covid-19 giving the reason that longer detentions make the courts unable to hear the defendants in line with the Covid-19 health rules and that some citizens facing prosecutions should be granted leniency.

On 1 February 2021 and before that date, all criminal cases prosecuted at respective courts with the following offences shall be dropped and the defendants be released, the order says.

Those should be released are applicable to such offences as (a) Penal Code Section 379, 380 and 379/ Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 380/ Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure; (b) Any cases except for Sections 42 and 43 of the Forest Law; (c) Any cases under the Gambling Law; (d) Any cases under the Excise Law; (e) Any cases under the Habitual Offenders Bond Act; (f) Any cases under Section 16 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law; (g) Any cases under Section 19 (a) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law (regarding the drugs and psychotropic substances, under Section 26 of that law, the weight limit for the seizure is 10 grams and below or 3 grams, 200 grams and below for 100 grams, below 10 kg of speciosa and below 5 kg of dried speciosa or speciosa powder); (h) Any cases under Section 19 (e) of the Arms Act; (i) Any cases under the Suppression of Prostitution Act; (j) Any cases under the Police Act; (k) Any cases under the Television and Radio Law.