HC seeks govt’s response on release of undertrials who have served half of maximum sentence which they may be awarded

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response of the Delhi government on a plea seeking release of those undertrial prisoners (UTPs) on bail who have served more

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response of the Delhi government on a plea seeking release of those undertrial prisoners (UTPs) on bail who have served more than half of the maximum sentence which would be awarded to them if convicted for lesser offence of all the other charges.

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A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan issued notice to the Delhi government and sought its stand on the plea by a trust, India Undertrial Prisoner Support Forum, which has sought a direction to the UnderTrial Review Committee (UTRC) to expedite review of bails for UTPs.

It claimed that a “large number of undertrial prisoners who have completed half of the lesser sentence in multiple offences are endlessly languishing in jail and awaiting justice”. It also contended that granting bail to such UTPs would be a long term solution for decongesting the jails in the national capital which are presently housing prisoners nearly double their actual capacity.

The petitioner, through its advocates Vishal Gosain and Neeha Nagpal, told the bench that the Supreme Court had in 2015 and 2016 ordered setting up of a UTRC to consider cases of UTPs who were entitled to benefit of section 436A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) which provides the maximum period for which a UTP can be detained.

The petition also contended that the holding capacity of the 16 jails in Delhi at Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini together was 10,026 prisoners, but they were housing 17,440 inmates out of which 14,355 were UTPs.

It has further said that if steps are not taken, the inmate population is expected to exceed 21,000 once prisoners who were granted bail as an interim measure to decongest the jail start surrendering.

The matter would be now heard on January 27.