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04 May 2022 Undertrial Prisoners: India

Posted at 12:40h in Daily current-affairs by khyati khare 0 Comments

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Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated for the early release of 3.5 lakh undertrials who have been in jails for years for not taking quick decisions in criminal cases and urged the Chief Ministers of the states and Chief Justices of the High Courts. It is requested to focus on solving this problem.
The Prime Minister was addressing the 39th Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices.

76 percent of the prisoners in India’s prisons are ‘undertrial prisoners’, and this number is the highest in 25 years. These are the poor, downtrodden and poverty-stricken people, who are unable to pay the security deposit. These people rot in jails for years and their cases are not taken up.

The overburdened judiciary is a major reason for delay in justice.
Police and prison officers often fail to fulfill their roles, leading to delays in trial.
Most of the cases under trial are from disadvantaged social groups – several surveys have found that 50-55% of the cases under trial are related to minority communities and depressed classes.
Due to paucity of resources he is unable to find lawyers for himself, and the attitude of police and jail authorities is hostile towards him, and they rarely help him.

Keeping in view the human rights of prisoners, it is necessary that they are given proper accommodation and facilities in the jails.
An ‘Under Trial Prisoner Review Committee’ should be constituted in each district consisting of District Judge, District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police. The responsibility of constituting such a panel for each district should be entrusted to the ‘National Legal Services Authority’, working in coordination with the ‘State Legal Services Authority’. Today Current Affairs
The ‘Legal Services Authorities’ in the states should play a major role in creating awareness among prisoners about their rights – especially the provisions relating to their ‘right to liberty’.
However, the real solution to this problem is not only in ‘expeditious release of prisoners on bail’, but in expediting the process of trial.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court of India, in view of the second unchecked escalation of the acute COVID-19 pandemic, ordered interim release to ‘eligible prisoners’.

The apex court, in the case ‘Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar (2014)’, stressed the need to adhere to the norms. In this case, the police were asked not to make unnecessary arrests—especially in cases involving punishment of less than seven years of imprisonment.
The officers in all the districts of the country were asked to give effect to Section 436A of the ‘Code of Criminal Procedure’ (CrPC). Under Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, undertrials who have completed half of the maximum jail term prescribed for an offense can be released on personal bond.
The apex court had suggested the ‘legislature’ to consider making a provision for ‘containment of convicts’ to avoid overcrowding of prisons. In 2019, the prisoner rate in prisons had increased to 118.5%. Apart from this, a huge amount of budget is also required for the maintenance of the prisons.

India has the highest number of ‘undertrial prisoners’ in the world, and more than half of the total undertrials were detained in less than six months during 2016.
According to the ‘National Crime Records Bureau’ (NCRB) report released in 2016, 4,33,033 people were lodged in jails in India at the end of 2016, of which 68% were undertrials.
It suggests that the high proportion of ‘undertrial prisoners’ in total jailed prisoners may be the result of unnecessary arrests and ineffective legal aid during remand hearings.