PEOPLE REMAINING BEHIND BARS AS UNDERTRIALS A DISTURBING TREND
**Author- Mohammed Fardeen Yusuf, a Student of Student at Andaman Law College
The criminal justice system established in any country is to not safeguard only the victims but the convicts as well as the prisoners with the ones under trial. One cannot be restricted from exercising their fundamental rights. The people who are under trial are the ones who are facing the process of trial by the court and are hence kept in judicial custody. Undertrial prisoners are those who have been accused of some crime and hence await to appear before the court. Their guilt has not been proven yet called convicts but not the accused. A huge majority of under-trial prisoners are poor and are unable to furnish bail for their release. They are not made aware of their legal rights i.e. the right to free legal aid, the right to get the legal practitioner of their choice, the right to bail etc.
The topic of discussion came into the picture as Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, SC judge and also the executive Chairperson of the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA), expressed his views about the under-trial prisoners, as the accused staying in prison until the trial gets to a conclusion. The question stands what if the accused is not the real convict? People tend to stay behind bars during under trial which significantly turns out a punishment or a sentence. He represented his views on the launch of the Under Trial Review Committee (UTRC) "We could not have a scenario where we perceive that the only punishment that can be delivered is keeping people at the under trial stage irrespective of whether the prosecution can get the conviction ultimately" the Special Campaign of 2023, by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).
The course of the Special Campaign will be undertaken from 18th September to 20th November 2023 under UTRC which will include all the districts of India. Further strengthening the structure of the Under Trial Review Committees (UTRCs), especially established in the district-level bodies regulated by the District & Sessions Judges and also the District Magistrates, Superintendents of Police, Secretaries, District Legal Services Authorities and Officers-in-Charge of Prisons as its member.
As per the directions which was issued by the Supreme Court of India further constituting the essential cause in the case of In Re-Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons in the year 2015, the release of over two lakh prisoners was recommended by the UTRCs which resulted in the release of 91,703 prisoners across India. Further the campaign with the theme of ‘Release_UTRC@75’ was undertaken by NALSAs in July and August of 2022 the recommendation was made to release 47,618, as a result only 37,220 prisoners were released overall by the campaign. In the recent case of Sonadhar vs. the State of Chattisgarh, it was further directed to NALSA to identify all those prisoners who have been granted bail but are still in custody for the failure to file the bail bond or the other required conditions which are necessary for filing the bail bond. The experts suggest that the problems of prisoners under trial for the long term can only be resolved with the reforms made towards the police authorities and jail. This stands as an urgent need to address the issues of the overloaded judiciary, to strengthen the district legal service authority and the introduce substitutes for the money or property-based bail systems in the Indian Courts.
Generally, to the poor, the judicial system seems an oppressive part and find themselves in a very difficult financial position to be equal with the more financially stable ones. There have been many incidents in which under-trial prisoners are kept within the same cell of a hard-core criminal and they face torture within the inmates. Which would further lead to a more possible chance for them to turn into criminals. The prison cell suffers from proper sanitation and healthcare facilities due to overcrowding. Still, no improvement can be seen towards the under trials despite various legislations passed by the courts. The number of under-trials in prison can be reduced only by speeding up the trial, simplifying the bail procedure and by periodic review of the cases of under-trials. Moreover, there should be a separate prison for under-trial prisoners.
REFERENCES
https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-4537-the-human-right-of-under-trail-prisoners.html
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