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Release undertrials who have spent half their term, says SC

Passing an order, Chief Justice RM Lodha said prisons across the country must comply with the law, and ordered local judges and magistrates to oversee the process. ‘Judicial officers shall identify prisoners who have completed half of the maximum period of imprisonment provided for offences they are charged with. After completing the procedure they should pass appropriate orders in the jail itself for the release of under-trial prisoners,’ said Justice Lodha.

The apex court passed the order while hearing a petition on foreign prisoners still in Indian jails far beyond their maximum punishment. The court asked the Centre to submit a road map to fast track the criminal justice system. The announcement came as a major relief for lakhs of prisoners and the move could be seen as a ruling government’s major leap towards ensuring ‘judicial reforms’ in the country with utmost priority.

However, this munificence will not be extended to those who are held for offences for which there can be death penalty or life sentence. As per government statistics there are four lakhs (approx) prisoners across the country and out of that nearly three lakhs are under-trials.

The irony is many of them have already spent more time in jail than the actual sentence they might have got. But now their release on personal bond could be seen as a significant move towards providing justice to these under-trials. Many feel that the step could also be fruitful in decongesting prisons.

Sources said home minister Rajnath Singh and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had a meeting to discuss how states can be asked to act upon the plan. It was learnt that the matter was first raised in a meeting on 26 August when minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju was called for a briefing in the law ministry in which Prasad and law secretaries were present.

‘There is no legal hurdle in releasing the under-trials and no amendment is required in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The concerned ministry will soon write letters to all chief ministers and chief secretaries to ensure that a review should be carried out on all under-trials before their release under Section 436A of CrPC,’ party sources said.
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