From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Despite getting bail, 5,000 undertrials were still slogging in jail and out of these, 1417 have been released since the end of December, according to the National Legal Services Authority.
The data was provided after the Supreme Court on November 29 directed the states to furnish details of the undertrial prisoners who were unable to meet the bail conditions.
The states were asked to provide relevant data to the National Legal Services Authority, which would suggest ways to deal with the matter and provide legal assistance wherever necessary.
In response to the court order, state legal services authorities initially submitted data to NALSA on the number of such prisoners at the end of December. Subsequently, they were asked to submit progress reports on legal assistance and release of the undertrial prisoners.
Data from the progress reports showed that 2,357 prisoners were provided legal assistance, and 1,147 of them have now been released.
At the end of December, Maharashtra had 703 persons who were in jail due to their inability to fulfil bail conditions, the data from NALSA showed. Of these, 215 were provided legal assistance and 314 were released, the National Legal Services Authority said, according to PTI.
In Delhi, the number of such prisoners was 287, out of whom 217 were provided legal assistance and 71 persons were released.
In its report, the National Legal Services Authority noted that the inability to arrange for surety remained the biggest hurdle in Maharashtra for such prisoners. In Delhi, however, it was due to the prisoners being accused in multiple cases.
“They [prisoners in Delhi] are not willing to furnish bail bonds until they are given bail in all the cases, as under trial custody will be counted in all the cases,” the report said.
