Sluggish prison review mechanisms, ineffective legal aid keep undertrials behind bars
The number of prisoners released was below those recommended by review committees even as the total population in jails increased slightly.
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India’s prison overcrowding is a persistent problem. While there have been multiple Supreme Court orders to ensure prisoners are released on bail without onerous conditions, and the government has recently launched a scheme to support bail for poor prisoners, there are still around half a million incarcerated people.
According to National Legal Services Authority’s June quarterly report on the functioning of Undertrial Review Committees, as of April there were nearly 530,000 prisoners of which 74.6% were undertrial. The Undertrial Review Committee, which was established based on a 2015 Supreme Court order, has district-level committees headed by the District & Sessions Judge, with the District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and Secretary, District Legal Services Authority as members. The committee reviews cases of prisoners and ensures they are not subjected to prolonged detention.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s latest prison data, there were 570,000 prisoners as of December 31, 2022. The prison population had reduced 8% by April 2024. The number of undertrial prisoners fell 9% to about 390,000 since 2022. Three in four prisoners are, as we said, still under trial – down one percentage point since 2022.
India is reported to have the fourth highest number of people in prison in the world after the US, China and Brazil, according to World Prison Brief data. Of these countries,...
