NEW DELHI: In a move that would ease the burdens on the Indian jails, the Centre on Friday said that it has decided to launch a special scheme ‘Support for Poor Prisoners’ to provide financial support to poor people languishing in jails and are unable to afford the penalty or the bail amount.
The scheme envisages the provision of required financial support to poor persons who are in prisons and unable to afford the penalty or the bail amount.
The programme worked out under the guidance of Home Minister Amit Shah, will enable poor prisoners, the majority of whom belong to socially disadvantaged or marginalized groups with lower education and income level, to get out of prison by obtaining bail.
To ensure that the benefits of the Budget are extended across all intended sections of society, one of the priorities of the Budget, namely the guiding ‘Saptarishis’ is reaching the last mile, an MHA spokesperson said.
"The broad contours of the scheme have been finalised in consultation with concerned stakeholders under which the Government of India will provide financial support to States in order to extend relief to those poor prisoners who are unable to avail of bail or get released from prisons due to non-payment of fine, on account of financial constraints," the MHA official said.
To further strengthen the process, technology-driven solutions will be put in place to ensure that benefits reach the poor prisoners; reinforcing the E-prisons platform; strengthening of District Legal Services Authority and sensitization and capacity building of stakeholders to ensure that quality legal aid is made available to needy poor prisoners, etc.
The MHA has been taking various steps to address the issues of undertrials prisoners from time to time. These include the insertion of Section 436A in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the insertion of a new chapter XXIA 'Plea Bargaining' in the CrPC. Free legal aid is also being provided to poor prisoners through Legal Services Authority at various levels.
"Further to ensure that the benefits of the Budget are extended across all intended sections of society, one of the priorities of the Budget, namely the Guiding 'Saptarishis' is Reaching the Last Mile," read the statement.
Prisons are an important part of the Criminal Justice System and play a significant role in upholding the rule of law.
The MHA has been sharing important guidelines with State Governments through various advisories issued from time to time.
The Ministry has also been providing financial support to the state governments for enhancing and modernizing the security infrastructure in prisons.