undertrials

With over three-quarters of India’s prison population awaiting trial and thousands more languishing behind bars after completing their sentences, the country’s jails reveal a harsh truth—in India, freedom often depends not on guilt or innocence, but on the ability to pay

Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently said that the undertrials who have spent more than a third of the maximum prescribed sentence for the crime they are accused of committing should be released before Constitution Day on November 26. This is in light of the new relaxed provisions on bail for first-time offenders in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

The Supreme Court on Fri...

With the general elections around the corner, nearly 4.3 lakh people in India will be forcibly denied their right to vote. These are undertrial detenus in Indian jails, their criminality far from being proved. This is unfair

A recent Calcutta High Court order shows how personal liberties must be allowed to convicts as well. Calculating backwards, one can assume that the huge number of undertrials in Indian jails deserve their liberties too

Undertrials are often victims of systemic dysfunction and ignorance. With no comprehensive state policy, their rights and privileges are perpetually under question

The president has urged that the increasing number of undertrials be tackled. The solution lies in a criminal justice  monitoring board to track the progress of criminal cases and sticking to CrPC timelines.

Chief Justice of India D...

The Tripura High Court h...

A study has found that eight out of 10 inmates in prisons are undertrials. A majority of them are illiterate and poor with an alarmingly high number being Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis