SC sets 2-month deadline to free long-jailed undertrials
Dhananjay Mahapatra,TNN | Sep 6, 2014, 03.24 AM IST
The SC bench gave the Centre three months to frame a comprehensive roadmap for fast-tracking the criminal justice system.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday raised a fundamental question about citizens' liberty by asking whether arrest was the only way to bring a person in conflict with law to justice and whether the police have so far used it either "erroneously or onerously".
"Is arrest the only way to bring people to justice? Think of it. We appear to be obsessed with arresting people though there are effective ways other than arrest to bring them to justice. We apply the arrest procedure either erroneously or onerously," a bench of Chief Justice R M Lodha and Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said.
The bench put the question to attorney general Mukul Rohatgi on being informed by him that undertrials constituted more than 60% of the prison population and many were languishing for petty offences as they did not have the wherewithal to furnish bail bond or there was no one to stand surety for them.
The bench gave the Centre three months to frame a comprehensive roadmap for fast-tracking the criminal justice system and asked the AG to take a look at the arrest procedure and whether it could form part of a legislative policy framework.
On release of undertrials, Rohatgi provided the cue by informing the court that Section 436A of Criminal Procedure Code provided that every undertrial prisoner who has served half the maximum sentence provided for the offence for which he is charged should be released on personal bond. But this will not apply to those who are charged with offences which attract death penalty.
The bench, which had asked the Centre for a roadmap for fast-tracking the entire criminal justice system rather than fast-tracking certain categories including politicians and influential persons facing heinous charges, ordered the lower judiciary to depute magistrates, chief judicial magistrates and sessions judges to hold court once a week in jails for two months starting October 1 and release undertrials on bail under Section 436A of CrPC.
This initiative by the SC will supersede the Centre's ambitious plan on release of undertrial prisoners. The SC asked district judges to compile statistics about release of undertrial prisoners under Section 436A by November 30 and submit it to the HC registrar general concerned.
The SC asked the registrars-general to submit a report on every district of the state to the secretary general of the Supreme Court by December 5 and posted the matter for further hearing on December 8.
Release of undertrial prisoners languishing for long periods for petty crimes was pioneered by M Veerappa Moily as law minister. During his tenure, over 6 lakh undertrial prisoners were released across the country as he toured every state and held meetings with his counterparts in states and HC chief justices.
The SC on Friday ensured that the process initiated by Moily and being carried forward by law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad culminates early through active participation of judiciary at the prison level.
But it told the AG that it expected the Centre to take the lead in setting up more courts along with infrastructure as states have been expressing inability to give the judiciary its due because of funds crunch.
The bench said courts were not revenue generating institutions yet formed a crucial part of good governance. It said all states had in principle agreed to implement the decision to increase the strength of HC judges by 25%. But except for five states, it could not be done in other states because there was no infrastructure to accommodate them.
The court said India had the worst judges to cases ratio in the world. "We have just 16,000 judges, starting from the Chief Justice of India till the lowest in the ladder, to deal with 30 million cases," it said.
"Is arrest the only way to bring people to justice? Think of it. We appear to be obsessed with arresting people though there are effective ways other than arrest to bring them to justice. We apply the arrest procedure either erroneously or onerously," a bench of Chief Justice R M Lodha and Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said.
The bench put the question to attorney general Mukul Rohatgi on being informed by him that undertrials constituted more than 60% of the prison population and many were languishing for petty offences as they did not have the wherewithal to furnish bail bond or there was no one to stand surety for them.
The bench gave the Centre three months to frame a comprehensive roadmap for fast-tracking the criminal justice system and asked the AG to take a look at the arrest procedure and whether it could form part of a legislative policy framework.
On release of undertrials, Rohatgi provided the cue by informing the court that Section 436A of Criminal Procedure Code provided that every undertrial prisoner who has served half the maximum sentence provided for the offence for which he is charged should be released on personal bond. But this will not apply to those who are charged with offences which attract death penalty.
The bench, which had asked the Centre for a roadmap for fast-tracking the entire criminal justice system rather than fast-tracking certain categories including politicians and influential persons facing heinous charges, ordered the lower judiciary to depute magistrates, chief judicial magistrates and sessions judges to hold court once a week in jails for two months starting October 1 and release undertrials on bail under Section 436A of CrPC.
This initiative by the SC will supersede the Centre's ambitious plan on release of undertrial prisoners. The SC asked district judges to compile statistics about release of undertrial prisoners under Section 436A by November 30 and submit it to the HC registrar general concerned.
The SC asked the registrars-general to submit a report on every district of the state to the secretary general of the Supreme Court by December 5 and posted the matter for further hearing on December 8.
Release of undertrial prisoners languishing for long periods for petty crimes was pioneered by M Veerappa Moily as law minister. During his tenure, over 6 lakh undertrial prisoners were released across the country as he toured every state and held meetings with his counterparts in states and HC chief justices.
The SC on Friday ensured that the process initiated by Moily and being carried forward by law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad culminates early through active participation of judiciary at the prison level.
But it told the AG that it expected the Centre to take the lead in setting up more courts along with infrastructure as states have been expressing inability to give the judiciary its due because of funds crunch.
The bench said courts were not revenue generating institutions yet formed a crucial part of good governance. It said all states had in principle agreed to implement the decision to increase the strength of HC judges by 25%. But except for five states, it could not be done in other states because there was no infrastructure to accommodate them.
The court said India had the worst judges to cases ratio in the world. "We have just 16,000 judges, starting from the Chief Justice of India till the lowest in the ladder, to deal with 30 million cases," it said.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-sets-2-month-deadline-to-free-long-jailed-undertrials/articleshow/41820262.cms
Labels: mukul rohtagi AG of India, release of long-jailed undertrials, stopping incarceration
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