Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Supreme Court judge and Executive Chairperson of the the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), expressed concerns about the situation of undertrial prisoners."We could.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday took on record the report submitted by the Supreme Court Committee on prison reforms and sought the responses of the Union Government and all State Governments.The Court.
Data from the National Crime Bureau for 2021 reveals that, of the 1,319 prisons in India, the maximum capacity of prisoners can be 4,25,609; however, prisons host 5,54,034 prisoners - which means an excess capacity of 130.2%.
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Siddharth Lamba
Project Officer, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
HUMAN rights defender Fr. Stan Swamy (84) breathed his last on July 5 as an undertrial prisoner. He died awaiting the Bombay High Court’s decision on his bail plea filed more than a month ago.
Fr. Stan had sought medical bail after his arrest in October 2020 stating that he was suffering from a neuro-degenerative disease and other health complications. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) opposed Stan’s medical bail plea stating that there was no “conclusive proof” of his ill-health. Nothing more remains to be said about this baseless opposition as he died on ventilator support in a hospital fighting pulmonary infection, Parkinson’s disease and Covid-19 complications.