VISAKHAPATNAM: Over 60 per cent of the prisoners in Vizag central prison landed there in ganja-related cases. And, most of them are remand prisoners with some struggling to get bail.
There are 1,188 prisoners who have been booked under NDPS Act, and of them 28 (male) are serving sentences varying from one to 10 years. Of the 1,160 remand prisoners, 75 are female and some (ganja smugglers) from other states including Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Kerala.
The central prison has 1,950 inmates (convicts and remand prisoners) with most of them facing ganja smuggling cases. Andhra Pradesh has four central prisons located at Vizag, Rajahmundry, Nellore and Kadapa. Lodging capacity at these facilities is 3,764 (3,634 male prisons and 130 female prisoners) but they are filled much beyond that due to various reasons. Speaking to TOI, president of Visakhapatnam Bar Association (VBA), G Maheswara Reddy said the NDPS Act is very stringent and getting bail is difficult in some cases. As per the Act, cases are booked under three categories - smugglers caught with one kg, between 1 kg and 20 kg, and 20 kg and above. For those booked below 1 kg of hemp, getting bail is easy, but for those caught with between one kg and 20 kg and above 20 kg it is difficult, and it may take over six months to get bail, he added
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