To curb the overcrowding of prisons in India, the central government announced, in January 2010, to release about 135,000 under-trials in prisons across the country. The targets of the scheme are those who have been accused of petty crimes and have served half of the maximum imprisonment if their convictions are to be affirmed. The government has set time limit of six months for all states to release the qualified under-trials. The decision does not cover those accused of heinous crimes, like rape and murder, and those under preventive detention.

In India, there are about 200,000 under-trials who have been jailed for several years, primarily due to delay in justice delivery system. According to source, some under-trials have been denied of bail because police failed to produce charge sheets on time and to escort under-trials to courts.

On 4 February 2010, inmates of Arthur Road Jail started a hunger strike to protest against delayed trials of their cases and to request a day-to-day basis for their trials. They demanded to see Minister of Home Affairs, R. R. Patil, and Deputy Inspector, Rajnesh Seth, and complained of not having enough drinking water, decent food and medical care in the jail.

The incident on 28 June 2008, in which 37 inmates were brutally assaulted when they were being transferred from the overcrowded Arthur Road Jail, has exposed the problem of appalling conditions of jails all over the country. To date, 115 prisoners in Arthur Road Jail have been waiting for their trials for more than eight years. To urge the authorities to ensure adequate amenities and healthy environment for inmates, ACPP issued UA080730(4) in July 2008.

Sources:
Hindustan Times and DNA, Mumbai Mirror

To alleviate overcrowding in Arthur Road Jail, Mumbai, it was decided that 75 under-trial inmates (undertrials) will be moved to the newly-operated Taloja Prison in Navi Mumbai. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria considered this arrangement as a two-fold measure, firstly to tackle overcrowding of the prison and, secondly, to prevent gangsters' leaders from further organizing their members and expanding their influence. According to the source, besides overcrowding, delinquency of gangsters, such as recruitment of members, extortion and murder, is another reason attributed to the appalling conditions of Arthur Road Jail.

Concerning the custodial death and torture, the Bombay High Court has come down heavily on Arthur Road Jail authorities and doctors for excessive use of force. On 21 July 2009, the court ordered a departmental inquiry against officials who might have beaten inmates on 28 June 2008 while transferring them to other prisons in the state. Also, the doctor would be investigated for dereliction and fudging on records. The inquiry was ordered after a petition initiated by Saeed Shaikh, son of one of the serial train blasts accused, Mohammed Shaikh, who alleged that his father and the other inmates were hit by batons and stones, and his father did not even receive any medical treatment after his leg got injured. The jailer claimed that minimum force was used because the inmates shouted anti-India slogans.

The incident on 28 June 2008 has triggered discussion on the condition in Arthur Road Jail. To urge the authorities to look into the case of custodial deaths and improve the condition of Arthur Road Jail, ACPP issued UA080730(4) in July 2008.

Sources:
Mid Day Mumbai,
India Express,
Hindustan Times

Around 1,182 “undertrials” have been set free since the Bombay High Court order was passed in October 2008, thanks to the strict implementation of the system of release on personal bond by the Arthur Road jail authorities. Under this system, the Court has ordered that a person arrested in a bail-able offence must be released on a personal bond after seven days in custody, even if he/she is unable to pay the bail. Most of those released are “indigent” (poor) people who had been incarcerated for a long period because they could not find anyone to stand as guarantor for the bail.

Previously, in November 2008, the high court has also urged “undretrials” take advantage of the “plea bargaining scheme” to speed up the trial procedure and to relieve overcrowding of the jail. The scheme is an agreement by which a person admits to guilty in the hope of receiving less severe charges. However, it is only allowed for first time offenders who do not face more than seven years in jail, if convicted, and their charges are not the crime against a woman or a child below the age of 14.

Owing to these measures, overcrowding in the jail has improved. As of 26 March 2009, the number of prisoners was reduced to 2,026. However, experts reminded that it is still far from reasonable standard. The Arthur Road jail is notoriously overcrowded - built for 800 inmates, it had accommodated 3,000 inmates at one time.

To call for concern about overcrowding in Arthur Road jail, and to raise awareness on the appalling conditions of prisons all over the country, ACPP issued UA080730(4) to urge the government to curb overcrowding in jails, among other requests.

Source:
Times of India

The Mumbai High Court has urged the detainees of Arthur Road Prison to take advantage of the “Plea Bargaining Scheme” to speed up their trial procedure.  It is believed that the scheme could reduce the burden of cases on the courts and ease overcrowding in jail, where detainees languish for years as “undertrials” before their cases comes up for hearing.

Law students accompanying the judge were allowed to interact with the detainees every week to help the undertrials with technical aspects of making their plea.  Plea bargaining is only allowed for first-time offenders charged with theft, simple assault and other common crimes, but not for those who committed crime against a woman or child below 14 years of age.

The scheme was introduced 3 years ago but was slow in implementation and legal officers lacked awareness about it.  The Arthur Road Prison currently holds 3,000 detainees against its capacity of 800, with a majority in undertrials.

Hotline Asia issued UA080730(4) in July 2008 to raise concern about overcrowding in Arthur Road Prison where 37 detainees being transferred were brutally assaulted, which triggered heated discussion and led to hunger strikes and protests in various prisons to highlight their plight.  Authorities were urged to look into the case, as well as curb overcrowding in jails and ensure basic and adequate amenities for the inmates.

Source:
Times of India

Two weeks after the media exposed the pathetic conditions in the Dongri Children’s Home in Byculla, Mumbai, officials of the Dongri Home, the Child Development Department, as well as the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) were summoned by the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) bench.

They unanimously admitted in court that the news report was true.  The Child Development Department also sent a committee to visit the homes and found the amenities unsatisfactory.

In response, the Commission ordered them to improve the conditions and report back within three months.  It further ordered that all homes be reviewed and their system be improved.

Two other elected members of the CAS who came for the hearing offered to submit additional information to the Commission about the on-goings in the CAS, claiming that politicians and have made it difficult for committed people or their honorary officials to work for these homes.

The Dongri Children’s Home have reportedly started to provide children with underwear now.  This shows that widely reporting the poor condition and giving pressure through competent authorities can achieve results for the suffering people.

To raise concern and awareness to the state authorities about the prison conditions in India, Hotline Asia issued UA080730(4) in July 2008 to urge them to promote dignity of the prisoners with adequate and hygienic living conditions and basic health facilities, and to provide separate shelters for rescued children.  The fate of children who are housed in the Dongri Home was also mentioned in the UA.


Source:
Times of India