Thread by @sanjukta

"Life began at 70 for Jagjivan Ram Yadav when he stepped out of Faizabad jail after spending 38 years as an undertrial prisoner without any trial ever."

My report on how the 'bail rule jail exception' principle is selectively applied by Indian courts. nationalheraldindia.com/india/bail-rul…

According to Prison Statistics of India Report 2019 ashocking 70% of Indian prisoners are undertrial. Their crime never been proven. In USA this number is a mere 23.03%. Prison occupancy capacity in India is 4,03,739, actual occupancy is 118% i.e. 4,78,600 inmates.

Number of undertrial prisoners increased at a faster rate between 2001 and 2019 than rate of convicted prisoners. The gap started widening during early 80s. Uttar Pradesh tops the list with highest number of undertrial prisoners, 73,418, constituting 22.2% of total.

As many as 5,011 inmates have been in jail for over five years with highest number of them, 42.74%, just in Uttar Pradesh. A majority of under-trials (70.6 per cent) are illiterate or semi-literate which indicates that they are socially and economically backward.

These shocking numbers are a testimony to the gross violation of the basic principles of criminal jurisprudence that of “presumption of innocence till proven guilty”, “right to fair and speedy trial”, and the constitutional “right to life and personal liberty.”

The Law Commission of India in its 268th report observed that bail rule, jail exception is the logical and consistent adaptation of the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, and several other conventions.

Supreme Court laid down the ‘Bail rule, jail exception’ principle in a landmark judgement in the case of State of Rajasthan vs. Balchand alias Baliya (AIR 1977 2447).SC has also from time to time reminded High Courts and lower courts to follow it.

Continue reading my report on the issue here nationalheraldindia.com/india/bail-rul…