EXPEDITING CASES OF UNDER TRIALS IN JAILS
The High Courts in
the country have disposed of about 25,000 cases of the under trial
prisoners involved in petty offences till June 30, 2001 as per
the latest information available. This follows a letter addressed
by the Chief Justice of India on November 29, 1999 to all the
chief Justices of the High courts directing them that every Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate or the Chief Judicial Magistrate of area
may hold court once or twice in a month, depending upon the workload,
in jail to take the cases of those under trial prisoners who are
involved in petty offences and are keen to confess their guilt
.
Both the Government
and the Judiciary are concerned with providing speedy justice
to under trials in jails.
At present, a
Committee on Criminal Justice Delivery System, headed by Shri
Justice V.S. Malimath, is seized of the entire gamut of criminal
justice delivery system. Immediately after Justice Malimath Committee’s
report is received, the Government would take necessary steps
to amend the criminal laws to provide speedy and time bound criminal
justice delivery system which would go a long way in restricting
the increasing flow of under trials.
The Supreme Court
in its judgement of June 1, 1996 in the case of Common Cause Vs.
Union of India and Others issued certain directions for trial
of criminal cases on priority basis. It also directed all the
High Courts to
issue necessary instructions in that behalf to all the criminal
courts under their control and supervision. The directions were
intended to release under trials languishing in jails for long
periods even beyond the prescribed period of the punishment, especially
in petty offences.
Further,
the Supreme Court in its orders of October 13, 1999 and December
6, 1999 in R.D. Upadhyaya’s case expressed concern over the plight
of under trials who were in jails. The apex court suggested measures
for taking effective steps for filing challans or reports in cases
involving petty offences and in which the under trials have been
in jails for a long time. Following the directions of the apex
court, the Central Government addressed a circular letter on December
17, 1999, requesting all the State Governments and Union Territory
Administrations to take urgent necessary steps to mitigate the
hardships faced by the under trials.
Added to these,
1734 Fast Track Courts are being set up to dispose of long pending
sessions cases particularly those involving under trials who have
been in jails for long time. So far, 1150 Fast Track Courts have
been notified and started functioning all over the country.
At present, there
are about 204,000 under trials languishing in jails all over the
country.
