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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | In UP's overcrowded jails, 60% inmates are undertrials -Neha Shukla

In UP's overcrowded jails, 60% inmates are undertrials -Neha Shukla

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published Published on Nov 4, 2013   modified Modified on Nov 4, 2013
-The Times of India


LUCKNOW: Jails may not be meant for comfortable stay, but prisons in UP could well put a can of sardines to shame.

There are 81,027 prisoners lodged in UP jails against the actual total capacity of 48,298 prisoners that these jails are meant to accommodate. What makes these overcrowded jails a case fit for human rights violation is the fact that more than half of the prisoners in the different jails of the state are undertrials.

The district jail in Ghazipur has 532 undertrial prisoners out of the total 594 prisoners that it lodges. Mau jail has 402 undertrials out of 494 prisoners. Balrampur jail has 284 prisoners, out of which 243 are undertrials. Out of the total 81,027 prisoners lodged in the various jails of the state, 55,460 (more than 60%) are undertrial prisoners.

Including the three special jails, five central jails and district jails, UP has 65 jails. The condition of the central and the district jails is pitiable. Barring the district jails in Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Gorakhpur and Meerut, where the number of prisoners is less than the capacity of the jails, rest of the district jails are overcrowded.

The national working committee member, National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), Raja John Bunch, who had sought details of undertrial prisoners in each jail of UP, and to whom the information was provided by the IG, prisons under the RTI Act has written to the governor seeking his immediate attention to the matter.

"It is purely a case of negligence and human rights violation," said the applicant in his letter to the governor. The central prisons at Naini, Varanasi, Fatehgarh, Bareilly and Agra have a capacity to house 7,757 prisoners. But, 12,452 prisoners are lodged in the five central jails, and 2,256 are undertrial prisoners. In Naini central jail, the number of undertrial prisoners (2229) is more than the capacity of the Jail (2060). The jail lodges 4116 prisoners.

The rest of the central jails, too, house more number of prisoners than the set up can comfortably hold. Agra central jail houses 1895 prisoners against the capacity of 1050, Varanasi has 1,813 prisoners against the capacity of 984, Bareilly has 2,369 prisoners against 2,053 and Fatehgarh has 2,259 prisoners against the capacity of 1,610.

The condition of 57 districts jails is worse. The number of undertrial prisoners in the district jails is much more than the capacity of the jails. "Somebody certainly has to highlight this, especially for poor people. In many of the cases, undertrials might have overstayed the jail term for their petty offences," said former UP DGP Prakash Singh.

In March 2013, the Supreme Court issued notice to the centre and all states giving them five weeks time to respond to a PIL which said that 64.7% of the total prison population of the country is of undertrials. There are about 2.41 lakh undertrials in Indian prisons.

SC issued the notice to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) as well and urged it 'to intervene and direct government to frame a policy to grant bail to prisoners facing trial for offences in which punishment ranges between three and seven years.'

The measures, taken by the government, to improve the condition of the jails have been few and far between. Jails continue to be congested. Some reforms were started when Raghuraj Pratap Singh (Raja Bhaiya) took over as the jail minister. But nothing major has come up on the part of the government for jail reforms.

"Police can not be blamed for this. Police can not speed up the trial. There have been cases where NHRC intervened for the cause of the undertrial," said the former UP DGP.


The Times of India, 4 November, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-UPs-overcrowded-jails-60-inmates-are-undertrials/articleshow/25193042.cms


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