JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED
JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED
On paper we are all free and equal citizens of the republic but neither the freedom nor the equality are equally distributed. There are so many ways in which “free” India keeps vast numbers of its citizenry in conditions akin to slavery and servitude but here I invite you to think about those who are deprived of freedom in the name of law and justice.
Over two thirds of India’s prisoners are under-trials, i.e. being held in custody pending trial. About 75% of such under-trials are illiterate or barely literate. Needless to say, the coefficient of correlation between lack of education and poverty is almost equal to one. Faced with overwhelming evidence of bias against the poor and marginal sections in the matter of arrest and imprisonment, the 177th report of the Law Commission, on the law of arrest in India, quotes Bernard Shaw to argue that “poverty is crime”.
The report also says that an unconscionably high percentage of arrests are made without warrants. In major states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, 60%-80% of the arrests are “preventive”, i.e. under sections 107/ 151/ 109/ 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Such people are usually held in jail because they are unable to furnish a satisfactory surety to accompany the bond of “good behaviour” that they have been asked to execute by the Executive Magistrate (usually a PCS/IAS officer). The provisions were devised by the British to control a restive population at minimum cost to their exchequer. Independent India has continued the provisions unchanged. As many as 90% of the arrestees in this category are poor/ illiterate.
Yet again, according to the Law Commission, as many as 40% to 90% (varying from state to state) of arrestees are taken into custody for bailable offences, i.e. offences where the law entitles them a virtual automatic release on bail by the police itself, without recourse to the court. In other words, such persons should be
On paper we are all free and equal citizens of the republic but neither the freedom nor the equality are equally distributed. There are so many ways in which “free” India keeps vast numbers of its citizenry in conditions akin to slavery and servitude but here I invite you to think about those who are deprived of freedom in the name of law and justice.
Over two thirds of India’s prisoners are under-trials, i.e. being held in custody pending trial. About 75% of such under-trials are illiterate or barely literate. Needless to say, the coefficient of correlation between lack of education and poverty is almost equal to one. Faced with overwhelming evidence of bias against the poor and marginal sections in the matter of arrest and imprisonment, the 177th report of the Law Commission, on the law of arrest in India, quotes Bernard Shaw to argue that “poverty is crime”.
The report also says that an unconscionably high percentage of arrests are made without warrants. In major states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, 60%-80% of the arrests are “preventive”, i.e. under sections 107/ 151/ 109/ 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Such people are usually held in jail because they are unable to furnish a satisfactory surety to accompany the bond of “good behaviour” that they have been asked to execute by the Executive Magistrate (usually a PCS/IAS officer). The provisions were devised by the British to control a restive population at minimum cost to their exchequer. Independent India has continued the provisions unchanged. As many as 90% of the arrestees in this category are poor/ illiterate.
Yet again, according to the Law Commission, as many as 40% to 90% (varying from state to state) of arrestees are taken into custody for bailable offences, i.e. offences where the law entitles them a virtual automatic release on bail by the police itself, without recourse to the court. In other words, such persons should be