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In News
- The first all-India meet of District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA) was inaugurated in New Delhi.
- During the event, Hon. PM. urged the judiciary to speed up the release of undertrial prisoners by providing them with legal aid.
Issue of Undertrial Prisoners:
- Meaning:
- An undertrial is a person who is currently on trial or who is imprisoned on remand whilst awaiting trial or A person who is on a trial in a court of law.
- The 78th Report of Law Commission also includes a person who is in judicial custody on remand during investigation in the definition of an ‘undertrial’.
- Data on undertrials in India:
- According to the ‘Prison Statistics India’ report published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2020, there were as many as 4,88,511 prison inmates of whom 76%, or 3,71,848, were undertrials.
- Challenges:
- The criminal justice delivery system in India saw more than 0.2 million undertrial prisoners being neglected in jail for many years.
- In many cases it exceeded the maximum sentence for the crime which they had committed.
- There have been cases where the amount of bail is disproportionately high.
- Reasons:
- Lack of coordination between the Centre, Judiciary & State Governments.
- Undertrials not having anyone to stand as guarantors nor assets to furnish as bail bonds, led them to continue suffering in prisons.
- Grossly inadequate number of judges and prosecutors.
About the NALSA & DLSAs
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Suggestions
- Classification and separation:
- Undertrial prisoners should be lodged in separate institutions away from convicted prisoners.
- There should be proper and scientific classification even among undertrial prisoners to ensure that contamination of first time and petty offenders into full-fledged and hardcore criminals.
- Proximity to courts:
- Institutions meant for lodging undertrial prisoners should be as close to the courts as possible.
- All undertrial prisoners should be effectively produced before the presiding magistrates on the dates of the hearing.
- Police reforms:
- Police functions should be separated into investigation and law and order duties and sufficient strength be provided to complete investigations on time and avoid delays.
- Increasing the number of judges:
- There should be an immediate increase in the number of judges and magistrates in some reasonable proportion to the general population.
- There should be at least 107 judges per million of the Indian population.
- Violation of any fundamental right:
- In case of violation of any fundamental right of the prisoner then the state should give adequate compensation to the victim.
Recent Improvements in the Judicial System
- Virtual court system:
- The regular court proceedings in our Indian courts in such unprecedented times are either being adjourned or have been carried out virtually via video conferencing.
- eCourts portal:
- It is a one-stop solution for all stakeholders like the litigants, advocates, government agencies, police, and common citizens.
- This portal is designed in a way that uses multiple languages.
- This portal is a consolidation of all the portals across the country.
- It is a one-stop solution for all stakeholders like the litigants, advocates, government agencies, police, and common citizens.
- E-filing:
- E-filing, also known as electronic filing, is a facility that provides filing of cases through the internet.
- National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG):
- The statistics of cases pending at the national, state, district and individual court level are now made accessible to the general public, researchers, academicians and the society at large.
- Any individual can access this information by visiting the National Judicial Data Grid portal.
- National Service and Tracking of Electronic Process (NSTEP):
- This is a mechanism that consists of a centralised process service tracking application and a mobile app for the bailiffs.
- This is used for quick delivery of summons, notices, processes and the reduction of unreasonable delays in process serving.
- e-Sewa Kendra:
- The e-Sewa Kendra is set up as a one-stop centre for accessing all the facilities provided under the eCourts Project.
- It has been set up in high courts and one in the district court of each state on a trial basis.
- With these centres, a litigant can acquire information on case status and get judgments and orders passed by the courts.
- Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS):
- The Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) is an initiative of the e-Committee to transfer data and information between the different pillars of the criminal justice system, like courts, police, jails, juvenile homes and forensic science laboratories seamlessly, from one platform.
Source: TH
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