Who are undertrial prisoners?
An individual in custody waiting for trial in courts or whose legal proceedings are not yet concluded. They are not convicted of crime yet.
What are the issues of Undertrial prisoners?
1. High proportion of Undertrial (76%)
- exceeds capacity of prison
- over crowding of prisons
- inhumane conditions of prisons
2. Lack of legal representation
- low lawyer-to-prisoner ratio
- lapse in implementation of Article 39A(free legal aid)
- hinder right to defend
3. Lapse in justice delivery
- number of years undertrial higher than actual punishment
- lapse of proportionate justice principle
- increase judicial backlog
4. Impact on undertrial prisoner
- violation of right to speedy trial under Article 21 (Hussainara Khatoon vs State of Bihar)
- violation of right to presumption of innocence (Article 20, UDHR article 11)
- toll on mental health leads to suicide in prisons
- increase social anxiety of individual and family
5. Erosion of public trust
- public faith in judiciary weakens
What causes the delay in trials?
1. Judicial inefficiencies
- overburden judicial system
- 21: 1 million judges (Law commission advise 50/ million)
2. Unwarranted arrests
- Sonadhar vs Chattisgarh case 2022
- Law commission points out 60% unnecessary arrests
3. Delayed investigation
- lower police to population ratio (152/lakh; UN suggest 222/lakh)
- overlap of investigation and law&order functions
4. Bail norms not streamlined
- limited judicial discretion
- corruption
- prisoners cannot afford bails
What can be done to resolve the problem?
1. Developing capacity of judicial system
2. Making bail laws simple
3. Developing alternate grievance redressal mechanism
4. Double shifts of courts with e-trials in petty offences (R.D Upadhyay vs State of Andhra Pradesh 2006)
5. Fastrack investigation process with technological innovation
6. Create an Inter-operable criminal justice system
7. Decongest prisons by application of section 479 of Bhartiya Nyay Samhita (BNS)
8. Strengthening National Legal Services Authority of India
Need to ensure substantive justice.
Courts need adhere to the principle that, 'Bail in a normal, jail is the exception.' (State of Rajasthan vs Balchand 1977)
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