Undertrial Prisoners in India

In News

• The first all-India meet of District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA) was inaugurated in New Delhi.
  • During the event, Hon. PM. urged the judiciary to speed up the release of undertrial prisoners by providing them with legal aid.

Issue of Undertrial Prisoners:

• Meaning:
  • An undertrial is a person who is currently on trial or who is imprisoned on remand whilst awaiting trial or A person who is on a trial in a court of law. 
  • The 78th Report of Law Commission also includes a person who is in judicial custody on remand during investigation in the definition of an ‘undertrial’.
• Data on undertrials in India:
  • According to the ‘Prison Statistics India’ report published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2020, there were as many as 4,88,511 prison inmates of whom 76%, or 3,71,848, were undertrials.
• Challenges:
  • The criminal justice delivery system in India saw more than 0.2 million undertrial prisoners being neglected in jail for many years. 
  • In many cases it exceeded the maximum sentence for the crime which they had committed. 
  • There have been cases where the amount of bail is disproportionately high.
• Reasons:
  • Lack of coordination between the Centre, Judiciary & State Governments. 
  • Undertrials not having anyone to stand as guarantors nor assets to furnish as bail bonds, led them to continue suffering in prisons. 
  • Grossly inadequate number of judges and prosecutors.

Suggestions

• Classification and separation:
  • Undertrial prisoners should be lodged in separate institutions away from convicted prisoners. 
  • There should be proper and scientific classification even among undertrial prisoners to ensure that contamination of first time and petty offenders into full-fledged and hardcore criminals.
• Proximity to courts:
  • Institutions meant for lodging undertrial prisoners should be as close to the courts as possible.
  • All undertrial prisoners should be effectively produced before the presiding magistrates on the dates of the hearing.
• Police reforms:
  • Police functions should be separated into investigation and law and order duties and sufficient strength be provided to complete investigations on time and avoid delays.
• Increasing the number of judges:
  • There should be an immediate increase in the number of judges and magistrates in some reasonable proportion to the general population. 
  • There should be at least 107 judges per million of the Indian population.
• Violation of any fundamental right:
  • In case of violation of any fundamental right of the prisoner then the state should give adequate compensation to the victim.

Recent Improvements in the Judicial System

• Virtual court system: 
  • The regular court proceedings in our Indian courts in such unprecedented times are either being adjourned or have been carried out virtually via video conferencing. 
• eCourts portal: 
  • It is a one-stop solution for all stakeholders like the litigants, advocates, government agencies, police, and common citizens. 
    • This portal is designed in a way that uses multiple languages. 
    • This portal is a consolidation of all the portals across the country.  
• E-filing: 
  • E-filing, also known as electronic filing, is a facility that provides filing of cases through the internet. 
• National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG):
  • The statistics of cases pending at the national, state, district and individual court level are now made accessible to the general public, researchers, academicians and the society at large. 
  • Any individual can access this information by visiting the National Judicial Data Grid portal. 
• National Service and Tracking of Electronic Process (NSTEP):
  • This is a mechanism that consists of a centralised process service tracking application and a mobile app for the bailiffs. 
  • This is used for quick delivery of summons, notices, processes and the reduction of unreasonable delays in process serving. 
• e-Sewa Kendra:
  • The e-Sewa Kendra is set up as a one-stop centre for accessing all the facilities provided under the eCourts Project. 
  • It has been set up in high courts and one in the district court of each state on a trial basis. 
  • With these centres, a litigant can acquire information on case status and get judgments and orders passed by the courts. 
• Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS):
  • The Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) is an initiative of the e-Committee to transfer data and information between the different pillars of the criminal justice system, like courts, police, jails, juvenile homes and forensic science laboratories seamlessly, from one platform. 

Source: TH