NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to conduct a state-wide audit to identify undertrial prisoners who continue to remain in jail despite being granted bail, while strongly criticising the state for failing to uphold their personal liberty.
"The state cannot watch silently while bureaucratic demands and financial requirements keep citizens locked up in violation of court orders," said the bench led by Justice MM Sundresh and Justice PB Varale in a recent ruling.
The apex court's order also focussed on comprehensive logistics operation across all 75 districts of UP to ensure that poverty ceases to act as an unconstitutional barrier to freedom.
The bench passed these directions and remarks in a suo motu cognisance matter in which the issue related to the release of undertrials who haven't been released due to their unwillingness or inability to furnish bail sureties.
The bench made clear that this can't be an adversarial litigation where benefit is only extended to those who are being given assistance of NALSA (National Legal Services Authority).
"In any case, the onus lies on the State to make sure that these persons are released from custody. We also request the concerned Courts to take up those cases which were brought into notice by the respective District Legal Services Authorities and modify the condition(s) suitably, so that the under-trial prisoners can be released accordingly," the bench added.
The top court also appointed Senior Advocate Gaurav Agarwal -- as amicus curiae (Friend of the court) -- who will address various issues, including that of the undertrial prisoners who continue to be in custody despite being granted bail due to their inability to fulfil the bail conditions or pay sureties.
The issue came to light when the court reviewed statistics from a preliminary study covering 20 districts in Uttar Pradesh.
The report revealed that out of 264 undertrial prisoners granted bail, 158 managed to secure their release, while 106 other individuals were left stranded inside prison cells.
These prisoners stayed in jail solely because they could not produce the necessary local property sureties, and or bail bond or fulfill the specific terms laid down by the trial courts. The fact that nearly 40 percent of bailed undertrials in the surveyed areas remained incarcerated highlights a breakdown between the high courts granting liberty and the trial courts enforcing its financial terms.
Faced with this systemic failure, the Supreme Court directed the state to immediately expand the audit to the remaining 55 districts that had been ignored in the initial data collection. The bench thereby ordered that this massive identification drive be executed with the direct assistance of the DLSAs.
The court also clarified that senior advocate Agarwal will ensure to maintain transparency and prevent the state from filing incomplete records and to independently evaluate the findings and suggest immediate remedies for the systemic delays.
The bench observed that many lower-income families sell their assets to hire a private attorney, mistakenly believing it guarantees a faster release. When the attorney secures bail, the family is often left completely penniless and unable to meet the financial demands of the bail bonds.
"Notwithstanding the presence of counsel appearing for the accused person who have been granted bail, further assistance can be rendered by the DLSAs to them," the bench commanded.
The bench further clarified that public legal assistance must be extended to any bailed prisoner unable to meet court conditions, effectively ending an unwritten policy that penalized families for attempting to secure private legal help.
The Supreme Court also stressed that the primary responsibility to release these prisoners rests entirely on the State of Uttar Pradesh. It requested all the trial courts in UP to quickly process the lists prepared by the DLSAs and to flexibly modify bail conditions. By urging magistrates to lower security demands and replace property requirements with simple personal bonds, the Supreme Court has in a humae way, ordered a direct pathway out of jail for hundreds of impoverished undertrials.