NEW DELHI: In a bid to free up overcrowded jails, the Centre proposes to bear the bail bond of poor undertrials who can’t afford the surety amount that will give them freedom. This step, the government hopes, will free thousands of undertrials languishing in jails for years. The Centre plans to create a separate fund for this purpose. The ‘bail fund’ will be set up in collaboration with respective states for future purposes.
In the first phase, the Ministry of Law and Justice has zeroed in on 11,916 female inmates who remain in jails only because they don’t have the resources to pay for their bail bond as directed by the court.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s prison statics of 2015, there are 3 lakh undertrials in India, of which 62,669 are in Uttar Pradesh jails. Likewise, there are 23 women prisoners languishing in Maharashtra jails, says a study by the Maharashtra State Commission for Women.
“We have already shared the proposal with states and have got positive response from most of them,” said an official associated with the project. Top priority will be to release those who have spent more than two years in prison for petty offences where maximum punishment is three years, despite getting bail due to inability to pay the bail amount.
For petty offences, the bail bond ranges from 500 to 5,000. According to NCRB, there are over 4,000 undertrials are lodged in various jails who have spent more than five years in captivity.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court too had expressed concern about overcrowding of prisons. In some cases, the occupancy has swelled to 150 per cent of original capacity. The SC has asked all High Courts to consider the issue as it involves human rights violation.
During the hearing, the Centre appraised the court that steps were being taken to encourage setting up of ‘open prisons’. Such prisons allow convicts to work outside the jail premises and earn a livelihood and return to the jail in the evening. There are 63 open prisons across the country.