Supreme Court seeks details of undertrials languishing in jail despite bail

New Delhi, November 29

Three days after President Droupadi Murmu highlighted the plight of poor and tribal undertrials languishing in jails for petty crimes despite getting bail, the Supreme Court on Tuesday sought details of such prisoners for formulating a national scheme for their release.

A Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul directed jail authorities across India to submit the details of such prisoners to the respective state governments, which will forward the documents to the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) in 15 days.

Justice Kaul was among those seated on the dais along with CJI DY Chandrachud, when the President narrated her experience of meeting undertrial prisoners as an MLA in her home state Odisha and later as Jharkhand Governor.

The jail authorities will have to submit details such as names of undertrial prisoners, charges against them, date of the bail order, what bail conditions were not met and how much time they have already spent in jail after the bail order, the Bench said. While hearing a petition filed by Sonadhar — a life convict in jail for 18 years — seeking his premature release, the top court asked NALSA counsel Gaurav Agrawal to explore all possibilities for formulating a national scheme and suggest ways to ensure execution of bail orders.

On September 15, it had said convicts who have already completed 10 years of life sentence and whose appeals were unlikely to be heard in the near future by high courts should be enlarged on bail, unless there were cogent reasons to deny them the relief.