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In a suo moto case, the full bench of the High Court of Kerala comprising of Chief Justice S Manikumar, Justice C K Abdul Rehim and Justice C T Ravikumar while taking note of the impact of national lockdown on the workings of the offices of advocates and government law officers and their support stuff said that the police will be at liberty to act in respect of heinous and serious offences, but the police are instructed to not make arrests except where it is inevitable.
Keeping in the mind the situation of overcrowding of prisons, the bench noted that whenever accused persons are produced, the Magistrates or Judges should decide whether judicial custody or police custody is necessary. Further, the Court laid emphasis that "bail is the rule and jail is the exception."
However, the Bench added that the stated directions stand excluded to subjects relating public order/ law and order, and any action taken by the State Government to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 and actions taken thereof.
This above said suo moto case was taken up by the Full Bench in the wake of the national lockdowm of 21 days which had been announced by the Prime Minister.
The Court extended:
(i) all interim orders passed by subordinate courts and tribunals by a period of one month.
(ii) the operation of bail orders.
The High Court also observed that there should be a total shut down of Courts during this lock down period.
In conclusion, the Kerala High Court directed that the police should not make arrests unless where it is inevitable, in view of national lockdown.
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