NEW DELHI: For 40-year-old Radhika Singh, surviving with her two children and elderly in-laws has become a challenge after her husband, the sole bread earner, Shyam was sent to jail in a property dispute case in 2016.
Families like Radhika’s now have a ray of hope from the National Legal Services Authorities (NALSA) which has launched a scheme wherein undertrial prisoners and other convicts can apply and seek financial assistance for their families.
Additional Director Navin Gupta of NALSA said, “So far we have received 50,000 applications for this scheme from all over the country from prisoners lodged in various jails. We are screening each one of them which also includes interviewing their families and understanding their concerns.”
Overcrowding of jails has been a major problem in India, with more than four lakh prisoners living within spaces of only 1,401 jails, as per the National Crime Records Bureau, 2015 data.
According to Gupta, the present laws are silent about giving benefits to the family members of jailed inmates.
“When we inquired of inmates about their issues, most of them stated that they are worried about their families facing financial issues. So, we devised a scheme wherein if we start taking care of their families the chances of inmates reformation will increase,” Gupta said.