UP, Bihar and Maharashtra account for 42% of all undertrial prisoners, says study

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra together accounted for 42% of all undertrial prisoners in the country as of December 2022, the India Justice Report 2025 showed.

Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of undertrial prisoners – with over 94,000 such inmates, accounting for nearly 22% of the nationwide figure. Among large states, Bihar had the highest share of prisoners awaiting the completion of the investigation or trial at 89%, followed by Odisha at 85%.

The report was prepared by a group of non-governmental organisation and civil society groups, including Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Daksh, Tata Institute of Social Sciences-Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, and How India Lives.

The study noted that much of the overcrowding in prisons was on account of inmates who were awaiting trial. It also found that on an average, undertrial prisoners were spending more time behind bars than before. At the end of 2022, the number of undertrial prisoners who had spent five years or more in custody was 11,448, as against 5,011 in 2019 and 2,028 in 2012.

At the end of 2022, Uttar Pradesh alone had nearly 40% of the undertrials who had been in jail for more than five years.

The study noted that in India, bail is...

Read more