Nainital, Mar 22 (PTI) The state government on Friday told the Uttarakhand High Court that in compliance with its order, it has released four prisoners lodged in jails for more than 14 years and is considering freeing 28 more.

The court, however, admonished the lawyers representing the state government for the delay in the execution of its order and said the remaining 28 prisoners must be released by 10 am on Saturday.

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The high court had identified 167 such prisoners and directed the state government to make a decision by Thursday evening and inform the court about the action taken by 10 am on Friday. Out of these 167, one prisoner is dead.

A division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal had issued the order to release the selected prisoners on Thursday.

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The order came after Justice Bahri visited the District Jail of Haldwani and Sampurnanand Open Jail of Sitarganj and listened to the problems of the prisoners.

Government advocate J S Virk informed the court that while four prisoners were released on Thursday, 28 more were under consideration. Advocate General S N Babulkar also appeared before the court via video conference.

The court pulled up the state government for still considering the release of 28 such prisoners and said they must be released by 10 am on Saturday.

It added that if the government is unable to make a decision for the remaining prisoners, the court will hold hearings on Saturdays to take a call on the matter.

Though Saturdays are a holiday for the high court, it will work overtime for public good, it said.

The court said this will also ensure that these cases will not derail normal litigation of the court. The first hearing for these cases will be held on April 20, the court said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)