Undertrials

Under trials

The Supreme Court has thrown open the door to the legislature to “ponder” over the idea of placing convicts under house arrest to avoid overcrowding of prisons.

A bench of Justices U.U.Lalit and K.M. Joseph, in a judgment, highlighted the “alarming” statistics of prisons. The suggestion is relevant considering the spread of COVID19.
A few days ago, the Bench, led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, issued a series of directions, including the grant of interim bail and parole to prisoners to decongest prisons.
Justice Joseph said the occupancy rate in prisons had climbed to 118.5% in 2019.
The court referred to the National Crime Records Bureau’s figures for 2019 to show that 18,86,092 inmates were admitted to jails. The number of under-trial prisoners in 2019 was 3,30,487, which, in fact, constituted69.05% of the total number of prisoners.
Secondly, a very large sum (?6818.1 crores)was the budget for prisons.
The “tremendous” overcrowding of prisons and the huge budget were both “relevant in the context of the possibilities that house arrest offers”, the court noted. It concluded that “as regards post-conviction cases, we would leave it open to the legislature to ponder over its employment. We have indicated the problems of overcrowding of prisons and the cost to the State in maintaining prisons”.

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