JUSTICE DELAYED; LIVES DERAILED: A DEEP DIVE INTO INDIA’S UNDERTRIAL PRISONER SYSTEM
While the glamorous successes of high-profile cases are well known, India’s justice system is complex and slow, often masking the complications of such trials. Undertrial prisoners – a highly alarming problem in this system. Such people wait unnecessarily for a case against them while they are put behind bars, denying them some of their fundamental rights. The plight of undertrial prisoners in India is considered at this stage, outlining the reasons for their predicament and necessary changes.
Remand or undertrial prisoners are those against whom there have been charges of a particular offense (s) and still being waited for judgment at the time. The accused are usually kept in a detention center until their trial is complete. Undertrial prisoners are innocent by law and suffer numerous challenges while in custody/incarceration.
According to a record by India in 2021, 77% of prisoners were unrivalled. This represented a 14.9% growth from 2020. In the last ten years, there has been a steady increase in the number of undertrials kept in jails. This increase reached its peak in 2021.
The National Crime Records Bureau indicates that, out of India’s prisoners, 77.1% are undertrials, while a court of law has sentenced 22.2%.
Approximately 30% of undertrials are jailed for over one year, and 65% are not released within three months.
CHALLENGES FACING UNDER-TRIALS:
Overcrowding and Protracted Detention: Overcrowding is a common and critical problem that affects most Indian correctional facilities but impacts more particularly under-trial prisoners resulting from poor system functioning. In many cases, the detention period for these people is longer than a possible sentence that would be given after conviction.
Prolonged Legal Procedures: The Indian administration’s legal process is notorious for its sluggishness and intricacy. Under-trial prisoners are frequently held for long periods without being convicted of anything because of delays intrinsic to the justice system.
Socioeconomic Disparities: Many under-trial prisoners arise from poor economic backgrounds and face complex tasks in getting just legal counsel. This makes their fight for bail and speedier trials harder.
Limited Legal Awareness: For instance, some detainees might need to be made aware of time trials that should be accorded to them and the cashless inability to hire sophisticated lawyers.
Suboptimal Prison Conditions: Indian prisons marked by overpopulation, poor structures, and hygienic conditions negatively impact the health and psyche of under-trial detainees.
THE NEED FOR REFORM:
Speedy Trials: The first fundamental reform necessary is to speed up the judicial system. Proper caseload management, which entails fast-tracking cases and quickly bringing undertrial prisoners to court, is imperative.
Legal Aid and Awareness: Ensuring that an undertrial prisoner has legal remedies and understands his or her rights is necessary. People experiencing poverty should find legal aid services easily accessible and affordable.
Bail Reforms: Overcrowding in our prisons can be mitigated through reforming our bail procedures. There is a need to consider bail for non-violent offenders, especially with mechanisms put in place to prevent them from fleeing.
Prison Conditions: Protecting undertrial prisoners’ rights and dignity is crucial to improving prison settings on sanitation, health care, and rehabilitation programs.
Data Transparency: The government should continuously provide information about the undertrial persons held in custody, why they are kept in custody, and the length of their stay or detention. This may point out potential problems within the system’s functioning and possible development directions.
Holding undertrials captive in India is truly catastrophic. They suffer much psychological trauma and sometimes poor health and loss of jobs or business even if freed. Continuous detention of undertrials goes against what “is innocent until proven” and clearly shows something fundamentally wrong in the system.
Our community has to acknowledge the existing injustice and demand structural changes in the courts, prisons, and legal assistance. It is an outrage that undertrial prisoners and their families are subjected to such terrible treatment while the administration strives to remedy it slowly and with incredible difficulty.
Protecting their right to life and dignity should remain the core mission and guarantee an honest and humane society, even for these undertrial prisoners. It is time for reform, and dealing with this problem will be a big move towards an equal, kinder, and just law system based on the basic notions of justice.
AUTHOR: SIDDHI RAJESHIRKE, A STUDENT AT SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL, PUNE
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