Decongesting Indian prisons

The Union home ministry’s plan to launch a special scheme to offer financial support for poor under-trial prisoners who languish in jail for their inability to pay for bail is a practical step forward towards solving the vexed question of congested prisons by amending the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The recently released India Justice Report said 77 per cent of the prison population were people awaiting the completion of investigation or trial. The absolute numbers, too, are shockingly large, having almost doubled from 240,000 in 2010 to 430,000 in 2021. The level of overcrowding can be gauged from the fact that Indian prisons have the capacity to house about 250,000 prisoners. The plight of under-trial prisoners waiting interminably for justice has been exercising the Government of India for many years without much progress for their relief.