Criminal delay

The Centre cannot overlook the fact that many undertrials are languishing in jail mainly because of lack of knowledge of their legal rights or legal assistance.

The Indian State has long been guilty of ignoring a terrible violation of human rights. In a country where those facing trial are to be presumed innocent until proved guilty, thousands of undertrials in our prisons have faced a worse fate than even those sentenced to life imprisonment (which carries a maximum of 14 years in prison). Cases abound of those who’ve been forced to serve three-four life sentences without being convicted, without the benefit of bail, sometimes without even a single hearing of their cases in court. Years of agitation have finally produced remedial action in the form of an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which came into force this week. This sets out that an undertrial prisoner — except those accused of an offence that can invite the death penalty — can be released by a court, with or without sureties, if he/she has served more than half the period of imprisonment specified for the offence. Also, undertrials certainly cannot be detained for more than the maximum period of imprisonment for that offence.

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The enormity of this amendment comes from the fact that 66.7 per cent of the nearly four lakh total inmates in our already-overcrowded jails are undertrials. Even more pathetic are the statistics reported by the National Crime Record Bureau that at the end of 2003, there were 1,132 women undertrials, whose children (approximately the same number) were growing up within the confines of our prisons.

While the Home Ministry estimates that the amendment could benefit as many as 50,000 inmates, it is unlikely to do so unless there is a more widespread reform of the criminal justice system. The Centre cannot overlook the fact that many undertrials are languishing in jail mainly because of lack of knowledge of their legal rights or legal assistance as also the long delays in our judicial system. With over 2,800 judicial vacancies, our courts are clearly struggling. At the end of last year, there was a backlog of 35,000 cases in the SC, 35 lakh in the high courts and over 2.5 crore in the subordinate courts. It would be a marvel then if courts found the time to dispose of petitions by undertrials seeking freedom. Until more holistic reforms take place, even positive measures like the CrPC amendment will fail to bring relief.