New Delhi: Around eight in 10 prisoners in Indian jails are awaiting trial while the rate of occupancy increased from 118 per cent to 130 in 2021, an analysis of prison statistics by the India Justice Report (IJR) has found.
The IJR is an independent annual study that analyses government data to rank states on their ability to deliver justice. It is compiled by organisations working towards reforming the justice sector. These include the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS-Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and How India Lives.
Data on India’s jails, released in the Prison Statistics India (PSI) 2021 – a yearly review brought out by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) – was the basis of the IJR.
There has been an increase of 7.7 lakh in the number of people arrested in 2021 as compared to 2020. While 1.47 crore people were arrested in 2021, 1.39 crore were arrested in 2020. The population of inmates in 1,319 prisons grew by 13 per cent from 488,511 in December 2020 to 554,034 in December 2021.
“The annual increase is particularly worrying; given that 2021 was the second Covid year when a slew of decongestion efforts were being implemented across the nation. The total number of people entering and leaving prisons in the course of the year also increased by 10.8 per cent from 16.3 lakhs in 2020 to a total of 18.1 lakh in 2021,” the IJR report noted.
The IJR found that as of December 2021, jails in 19 out of 36 states and Union Territories were overcrowded. The rate was highest in Uttarakhand at 185 per cent, while in Rajasthan it was 100.2 per cent.
In Union Territories, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir had over 100 per cent occupancy rates. Of the total number of inmates, 77 per cent were under-trials – a one per cent increase from 2020. The report also noted that the figures doubled in one decade — 2.4 lakh in 2010 to 4.3 lakh in 2021.
In its analysis, IJR found that except Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura, the under-trial population in all other states increased by 60 per cent. In Delhi, nine out of 10 prisoners were under-trials.
Across India, 24,003 under-trials have been in for 3 to 5 years and 11,490 for more than 5 years of which Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra formed the major chunk.
The report noted that most prisoners came from economically-backward backgrounds while 25.2 per cent were illiterate.
Out of the 51.7 per cent overall convicts, 21.69 per cent belonged to Scheduled Castes, 14.09 per cent to Scheduled Tribes and 15.9 per cent were Muslims.
Of the 49 per cent under-trials, 21.08 per cent were Scheduled Castes, 9.88 per cent Scheduled Tribes and 18 per cent Muslims. Out of the 56.4 per cent detenues, Muslims were 27.7 per cent, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes 23.05 and 5.62 per cent respectively.
While the overall vacancy in prison staff decreased from 30.3 per cent in December 2020 to 28 per cent in December 2021, half of the states and Union Territories at the end of last year were functioning with one-fourth positions vacant. The highest vacancies were recorded in Ladakh, Sikkim and Jharkhand. In Union Territories, the highest was recorded in Jammu and Kashmir.
The report also noted there was an overall decline in medical staff — doctors, lab technicians, pharmacists and compounders. While 14 states have more than 40 per cent vacancies, Goa, West Bengal and Karnataka topped that list.
There has also been a sharp increase in vacancies for qualified doctors, shooting up to 48.2 per cent in 2021 from 34 per cent in 2020. The report further said that while the Model Prison Manual required one doctor for every 300 prisoners, on the national average, one doctor served 842 prisoners.
The access of prisoners to courts and hospitals has also returned to pre-Covid levels with an increase of 34 and 24 per cent respectively.
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