CJI Khanna highlights prolonged detention’s impact on undertrials’ reintegration

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna was speaking at an event organised by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) on Human Rights Day (December 10)

Nw Delhi: Prolonged detention of undertrials hampers their reintegration into society, said Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday. Speaking at an event organised by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) on Human Rights Day (December 10), the CJI highlighted that overcrowding in jails is a pressing issue.

Khanna stressed the importance of legal aid for marginalised populations (PTI)

“Overcrowding, particularly affects undertrials, severing their ties with society, pushing them into a spiral of criminalisation, and making their reintegration a challenging task,” he said, adding that currently, the number of undertrials exceeds jail capacity by 119%.

Khanna welcomed a recent initiative under Section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which allows first-time offenders to be released after serving one-third of their maximum sentence. He praised this provision as ‘progressive’, recognising that prolonged detention affects the presumption of innocence and traps marginalised individuals in cycles of disadvantage and societal alienation.

He also stressed the importance of legal aid for marginalised populations and launched NALSA’s campaign to identify and assist in the release of elderly (over 70) and terminally ill prisoners. According to prison statistics, over 20% of convicts (27,690) and more than 10% of undertrials (44,955) in prisons are over 50 years old.

“Criminal courts are an area that requires significant reforms. Laws need to change. Many laws have been decriminalised, but it is a work in progress,” the CJI said.

Justice Bhushan R. Gavai, the executive chairman of NALSA, explained that the campaign will last three months, involving para-legal volunteers who will visit prisons, interact with prisoners in the target categories, collect documents, file petitions, and track them after release.

Gavai also raised concerns about citizens’ lack of awareness of their legal rights when arrested. “About 14 million people are arrested in this country every year. A large number of them are unaware of their rights during interrogation or the process for contacting family members,” Gavai said, adding that NALSA intends to raise awareness of these rights through a video released on the occasion.

Justice Surya Kant, head of the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee, discussed the delicate balance between “appropriate” and “inappropriate” detention, recalling the Supreme Court’s decision during the COVID-19 pandemic to release prisoners to avoid overcrowding and the spread of disease. He emphasised that the Constitution guarantees the right to live with dignity for all, including non-citizens, and that elderly and terminally ill prisoners, aided by NALSA’s campaign, would greatly benefit from access to justice.