There are almost 1 lakh of excess prisoners
NEW DELHI: The rising Indian population is now being reflected in jails too. According to a National Human Right Commission (NHRC) survey, jails are overcrowded with an excess of 39 per cent prisoners.
The survey conducted by the Custodial Justice Cell of the commission has concluded that there are almost 1 lakh excess prisoners (93,257) in jails all over India in comparison to the authorised jail capacity of 2,38,855.
Amongst the states that recorded overcrowding higher than the all India average were Jharkhand, Delhi, Chattisgarh, Gujarat and Haryana.
In fact, Delhi also figures in the list of states along with Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Meghalaya and Manipur where the percentage of undertrials is higher than the all India average of 70.1 per cent. On the whole, while overcrowding has increased in 11 states, it decreased in 7 states and 2 union territories.
Top cop Kiran Bedi points at the lack of perspective planning in prison management. “There is no concept of anticipation in this country. The concerned ministries should have looked at the growing crime graph vis-à-vis, the growing population. Overcrowding means diseases due to a lack of basic sanitary conditions. There is a high risk of the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. In fact many undertrials face the risk of interacting with drug users and ultimately fall prey to abuse themselves.”
Sunil Gupta, PRO, Tihar jail says, “There are 14,000 prisoners in Tihar currently as against the sanctioned capacity of 6200. Out of these 81 per cent are undertrials and that is a reflection on the slackened judicial process. We have been facing a problem and have been trying to accommodate more prisoners in one cell due to shortage of space.”
Bedi adds that there should also be a concept of camp jails that does not exist so far. “Why should ordinary demonstrators be packed in with criminals?”
Cold facts
There are 39 per cent of excess prisoners
Overcrowding has increased in 11 states it decreased in 7 states
Jharkhand, Delhi, Chattisgarh , Gujarat and Haryana have more prisoners than the all India average
Delhi, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Meghalaya and Manipur have the highest number of undertrials
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