From left: Mr. Shiv Kumar Dwivedi, Duty Lawyer IBJ India. In the middle: Mr Ashwani Kumar Bali, Duty Lawyer, and  Mr. Ajay Verma, Advocate and Senior Fellow IBJ.

The awareness workshop was held in the New-Comers Ward of Tihar Jail no. 8 and 9, and followed by an interactive session where Mr. Verma and the lawyers answered questions and shared basic legal knowledge with the prisoners. The New-Comers Ward was chosen because most of the time new inmates don’t know anything about legal aid and procedures.

More than 300 new-comers had gathered to attend the awareness workshop.

Communication with the judge was one of the first issues to be discussed. Many inmates told us that when they are produced before a magistrate, they will stand in the back of the room and not be allowed to talk to or address the presiding judge. The inmates are frustrated because they want to share their versions and details of the crime, or maybe they want to put before the judge that they have been falsely implicated.

Mr. Ajay Verma told the inmates that they have to talk to the judge and say whatever they want about their case. If the accused talks, the judge will listen to him. He adviced the inmates to go to the legal aid centre in their jail and write what they want to tell the judge in a paper, which they will give to the judge in court. Besides this it was also suggested that as the courts are considered temples of justice, the inmates needs to be polite and courtious to the sitting judge.

Some time was spent on informing the inmates about the necessity to give any defence evidence they have in their case. The inmates felt it was not fair that the prosecution was giving evidence against them, because they simply did not know their right to do the same. They were also informed about the right to be present during all stages of trial, and that they, at any point, may object or correct information if they feel that it is incorrect, in consultation with their lawyer. The accused can always listen to the answers of the witnesses in their case, and immediately inform their counsel anything about the same. Mr. Verma stressed that they need to have effective commuication with their counsel to effectively defend their case.

Mr. Ajay Verma, Advocate and Senior Fellow IBJ, Mr. Ashwani Kumar Bali, Duty Lawyer IBJ India, and Mr. Shiv Kumar Dwivedi, Duty Lawyer IBJ India.

Another issue raised by the inmates was that of chargesheets not being filed. The IBJ India Team informed them about the right to bail in non-bailable offences, as stated in Section 437 in the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C). In non-bailable offences it is on the discretion of the Court to grant bail. But if the police don’t produce the chargesheet within a given amount of time, the accused may request to be released on bail as a matter of right under Section 167 of the Cr.P.C., provided that they are willing to furnish surety. If the sentence of the crime is less than ten years, and the chargesheet has not been filed, the accused is entitled to bail after 60 days of his arrest. In offences punishable above ten years, life imprisonment or capital punishment, the same goes after 90 days. The inmate can go to the legal aid cell in his jail, and write an application stating that it has been 60  or 90 days and that the police has not filed the chargesheet. In these cases, the inmate will usually be granted bail.

Interaction with the inmates. 

In addition, the lawyers answered questions regarding plea bargaining, as introduced  by the Criminal Law Amendment Act in 2005. Plea bargaining is an agreement between the prosecutor and the accused where the accused will get some sort of concession in exchange of pleading guilty to all or some of the charges against him. Any offender can plead guilty provided that the maximum sentence for the crime is less than seven years, and that the crime was not committed against women or children.

Usually, the inmates will think that plea bargaining is acquittal of the charges, when it actually is a conviction with confession. In the session, IBJ India shed light on all sides of plea bargaining. If the accused pleads guilty, he will be registered as a convicted person. Among other things, he will not be able to get a government job. Also, if he is arrested a second time the judge will consider him a habitual offender and, because of this give a harsher punishment. Therefore, it is very important to inform the inmates about all the aspects of plea bargaining.

One of the new-comers talking to Mr. Ajay Verma.

As expected, many of the new-comers that we met in the New-Comers Ward were accused of petty offences. One of the inmates had been arrested for electricity theft, and was languishing because of lack of legal representation. IBJ India’s Duty Lawyer Mr. Ashwani Kumar Bali took his case and will be filing an appropriate bail application. The lack of knowledge of the right to bail in bailable offences, as prescribed in Section 436 in Cr.P.C is the reason why inmates remain in jail for at least 15-30 days when they are not able to furnish surety. The inmates were also informed about the legal aid centre in their cell and how they can go there to get legal assistance free of cost. They were requested to report to the Superintendent of the Jail whenever any legal aid advocate asks for money.

In the last part of the session, the inmates came up to the IBJ India Team and asked for advice about their cases, showing their chargesheets, and the like. The team also identified a few people without legal representation, and Mr. Ashwani Kumar Bali, Duty Lawyer IBJ India, visiting Jail No. 8 and 9, agreed to take their cases.

IBJ India will continue with awareness events as long as the need is there. We are grateful for the good cooperation with the prison authorities and their help in providing easy access to justice for the inmates. We are looking forward to the conduction of future events.

There were about 300 prisoners who had gathered for the session, some of their offences ranging from crimes like impersonating in exam to offences like abduction, forgery, and dowry and grievous hurt etc. As the IBJ mandate is to provide access to justice, we started with the most crucial question- Did the inmates have a lawyer to represent their case? As expected, we saw a sizeable number of hands being raised up. IBJ volunteer lawyer Ajay Raghav was willing to take up the cases of those who were unrepresented. With the quantum of undertrial population in India, especially in Tihar alarmingly high, the next obvious question was- How many inmates had applied for bail? Few of the inmates had not applied for it. Ajay Verma explained the provisions to those who were eligible for the same.

The prisoners were also made aware of section 167(2) of the CrPC, the provision that if the police had failed to file charges within the stipulated time frame of 60/90 days from the date of arrest then, the accused had a right to file for statutory bail. Often, the inmates are unable to make use of this provision due to the mistake, ignorance of the lawyer and therefore a format on bail under Section 167(2) were distributed among the inmates, so that they can apply for statutory bail themselves. It also came into light as some of the prisoners claimed that their lawyers after taking money from them as fees did not showed up in their defenses.  Mr. Verma made it clear that if a lawyer takes money and does not show up then a client can report/complain to the bar council against them.

During the session, two information pamphlets relating to the provisions of plea bargaining and bail explaining the provision and the procedures were distributed. The information pamphlets were in Hindi, the language understood by the majority of inmates so as to ensure accessibility of information. Mr. Sumit, a coordinator working for Tihar jail made a list of the inmates without legal representation; these cases will be represented by IBJ lawyer Mr. Ajay Raghav. Further there existed cases wherein some inmate’s bail applications were granted by the court but due to his incapacity to pay for surety are still detained in the prison. A separate list were made of these inmates for which IBJ India will try to find a solution by filing a petition in the Court for the same.

The awareness drive held saw a lot of inmates who participated by discussing their problems with our lawyers and brought a successful end to this event. The inmates often feels neglected detained in the jail for years, so this kind of awareness drive is useful to make them believe that they are not alone, there are people thinking about them, caring for their rights. As is the mandate of IBJ to spread awareness of ones rights and provide legal assistance, we hope, that our endeavor to educate the prisoner about their rights would ensure strengthening of rule of law and ensure that humanity dignity is preserved behind bars.

The Chief Justice of India gave a ray of hope to nearly .17 Million under trials languishing in jails for years despite being booked for petty offences. Hon’ble Prime Minister, Law Minister and Chief Justice of India unanimously expressed that some urgent steps are needed to secure their release as in many cases, their period of detention due to the slow pace of justice delivery system could have actually overshot the sentence that would have been awarded to them in case of conviction. The Chief Justice of India said during the conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of all states that every chief judicial magistrate had been instructed by the High Courts to be in touch with jail authorities to find out the number of under trials booked for petty offences. If they had served more than half the sentence that would have been awarded to them in case of conviction at a future date, then they could be “immediately released on a personal bond”, the CJI said, adding that the benefit of plea bargaining would also be available to them.

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, expressing deep concern over under trials said, “Many of them have been in jail for periods longer than they would have served had they been sentenced. This is indeed very disturbing. There have been pronouncements of the high courts and the SC on this issue but still their number in jails continues to be very high.”

In India there are almost 1,500 jails accommodating 3.5 lakh inmates. This is more than their actual capacity to accommodate 2.5 lakh prisoners. Approximately 70% of the jail population is made up of under trials, which means the number could be pegged at 2.45 lakh. Out of these, according to the Hon’ble CJI, 70% or 1.7 lakh were booked for petty offences.

The conference of Chief Justices and Chief Minister was held in New Delhi in which some crucial resolutions were also passed pertaining to the speedy Justice to under trial. It was resolved that the High Courts will make scientific and rational analysis as regards to accumulation of arrears, and devise a road-map for itself and jurisdictional courts to arrest arrears of cases taking into account average institution, pendency and disposal of cases and to ensure speedy trial within a reasonable period of time. Further it was resolved that The Chief Justices of the High Courts will expedite the matter with the respective State Governments for the purposes of holding of courts, in jail, of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate/Chief Judicial Magistrate or Metropolitan Magistrate/Judicial Magistrate, wherever possible. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate/Chief Judicial Magistrate or Metropolitan Magistrate/Judicial Magistrate, shall discharge obligation keeping in view the principles of `Plea Bargaining’ as enshrined in Chapter XXI-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and confessions in petty cases. Advocate provided by the District Legal Services Committee/State Legal Services Authority be also deputed, wherever not deputed, in jail to work in the aid of under-trial prisoners for providing requisite services to them to present their case before the Metropolitan Magistrate of Concern Court, as the case may be.

These positive responses indeed will improve the Justice Delivery System to under trials. A lot needs to be done but certainly an initiative by Hon’ble Chief Justice of India will strengthen the faith of Under trials currently in the Justice Delivery System.