Overburden of Judiciary

At the 39th Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justice the matter discussed about early release of 3.5 lakh undertrial prisoners languishing in jails for years,

Need for:

As much as 76% of inmates are undertrials, which is the highest in 25 years. These are poor people, dalits, poverty stricken people who are unable to furnish bail bonds and continue to rot in jails for years without their cases being taken up.

Reasons for the Delay in Justice:

• Overburdened judiciary is a major reason for the delay in justice.

• Police and prison officials often fail to fulfill their roles, leading to long delays in trials.

• Most of the undertrials come from disadvantaged social groups. Lack of resources constricts their ability to seek out lawyers and hostile police and prison authorities are rarely of help — despite a 1980 Supreme Court ruling that Article 21 of the Constitution entitles prisoners to a fair and speedy trial as part of their fundamental right to life and liberty.

• The understaffed judiciary compounds the problem. Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedures mandates that judges can extend a detainee’s custody for a period of 15 days at a time. For that to happen, the detainees have to be produced regularly before the courts. This rarely happens; proceedings don’t take place in time and the undertrials are shuttled from court to court.

What needs to be done?

Keeping in view the human rights of the prisoners, it is essential that they are given reasonable space and facilities in jails.

• An undertrial review committee, comprising the District Judge, District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, should be set up in each district. The onus of constituting such a panel for every district should be put on the National Legal Services Authority, acting in coordination with the State Legal Services Authority.
• The legal services authorities in various States must play a principal role in inculcating awareness among prisoners about their rights, especially provisions that entitle them to freedom.
• The real solution, however, does not lie merely in the early release of prisoners on bail, but in expediting the trial process.

Observations made by the Supreme Court in May 2021:

In its judgement, the Supreme Court (SC) of India had ordered the interim release of eligible prisoners in view of the uncontrolled second surge in the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

Key observations:

• Emphasised the need to adhere to the norms it had laid down in Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar (2014) case. Under this case, the police were asked not to effect unnecessary arrests, especially in cases that involve jail terms less than seven years.
• Authorities in all districts in the country to give effect to Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C). Under the Section 436A of the Cr.P.C, the undertrials who have completed half of the maximum prison term prescribed for the offence may be released on personal bond.
• Suggested the legislature to consider the idea of placing convicts under house arrest to avoid overcrowding of prisons. The occupancy rate in prisons climbed to 118.5% in 2019. Moreover, a very large sum of the budget is used for the maintenance of prisons.

Under-trial Population:

India’s under-trial population remains among the highest in the world and more than half of all undertrials were detained for less than six months in 2016.

• The 2016 NCRB report highlights that at the end of 2016, there were 4,33,033 people in prison, of whom 68% were undertrials.
• This suggests that the high proportion of undertrials in the overall prison population may be the result of unnecessary arrests and ineffective legal aid during remand hearings.