polity and Governancepolity and Governance

SC constituted a 3-member committee headed by Justice Amitava Roy to look into the issues pertaining to jails (Prisoners Reforms in India).
Thoothukudu Incident – the death of a father-son duo from TN.

Data & Stats related to prisoners in India

  • National Police Commission – 60% of arrests were “unnecessary”.
  • NCRB – B/w 2001 & 2018, only 26 policemen were convicted of custodial violence despite 1,727 such deaths.
  • Prison is under the state list.
  • Prison governed by Prisons act 1894 and Prison manual of resp states.

Why We Need Prison Reforms in Indian Prison System

Ramamurthy v. State of KR on conditions of prison identified foll problems

  • Overcrowding: As per NCRB’s ‘Prison Statistics India’ 2015 – avg occupancy rate of 114% in jails i.e. 14% more than the capacity.
  • Undertrial: 67% of people in Indian jails undertrial against 11% in the UK, 20% in the US — violate Sect 436 A of CrPC.
  • LCI, in this regard, said, 60% of arrests are unnecessary cos — a] no bail money; b] unnecessary arrest like 377, 66A of IT.
  • Custodial deaths: Include torture, rape, and abuse. According to National Campaign Against Torture, 3/4th deaths in police custody occurred due to torture in 2019.
  • Reintegration in society is completely absent → to facilitate re-offending, ignoring reformative justice.
  • Staff crunch: ratio b/w prison staff and prison pop are approx 1:7.
  • Prison infra: built in the colonial era & need repair.
  • Lack of Communication facilities: Prisoners left to live in isolation and remain uninformed about the lives and well-being of his family.

SC Judgements related to prisoners Reforms in India

  • Sobhraj Case: SC in Charles Sobhraj case, said, there should be no total deprivation of a person right to life in prison.
  • Prem Shankar Shukla case: on handcuffing.
  • Rama Murthy case 1996: SC identified ‘Torture and ill treatment in prisons as an area that needs reform.
  • DK Basu Judgement: SC issued 11 directions to inc transparency & fix responsibility while making an arrest.

Through multiple cases, SC upheld 3 broad principles wrt imprisonment & custody –
a-
A person in prison should not become non-person;
b- Entitled to HR;
c- No justification for aggravating suffering.

Challenges related to prisoner Reform in India

  • Lack of strong legislation against torture: Ind not have anti-torture legislation and is yet to criminalise custodial violence despite signing UN Convention Against Torture 1997.
  • Under-utilisation of funds for modernisation of Police Sch: as highlighted by CAG report.
  • Lack of accountability & impunity enjoyed by Police: Law does not permit common citizens to sue a police officer. SC (Prakash Singh Case 2006) and 2nd ARC recommended for constituting independent complaint authority to inquire into the cases of police misconduct.
  • NHRC as Toothless Inst: recommendation is not mandatory.
  • Popular Support: Public openly support the police ‘Thoki Raj’ and the violation of RoL.

Steps Taken to resolve prisoners Reforms in India

  • Prison Discipline Committee, 1836: recommended increased rigorousness of treatment.
  • Modernisation of prison: conceptualised by TB Macaulay in 1835.
  • E-prison project.
  • Draft Nat Policy on Prison Reforms and Correctional Admin – a] include prison in the concurrent list; provisional alternatives
  • to prison such as community service, property forfeiture, payment of compensation, etc.
  • NALSA with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) is working on a national digital database of under trails.
  • All India Jails Manual Committee 1957-59 to prepare a model prison manual.

Steps Needed to resolve prisoners Reforms in India

  • Open Prison.
  • Ratify UN convention against torture 1997.
  • Police Training in HR: A report by Common Cause & CSDS-Lokniti, 12% of police never receive human rights training.
  • Mulla Committee [1983]: a] Setting up Nat Prison Comm to oversee the modernisation of prison in Ind; b] undertrials to be kept separate from convicted prisoners; c] All India Prison Service as professional career service.
  • Krishna Iyer Committee [1987]: undertake a study on the situation of women prisoners in Ind and recommended induction of more women in the police force to tackle women and child offenders.
  • LC Recommendations: a] Under trials completed 1/3rd of max sentence for offences up to 7 yr should be released on bail; b] For more than 7 yrs, bailed out if completed more than one-half of their sentences.

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