New Delhi: There are hardly any takers for Centre’s scheme to provide financial support to poor prisoners who, on account of financial constraints, are unable to pay fines or furnish bail bonds to secure their release as according to court orders.
The states that took benefit of the scheme are Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Together, they have in the last 2 years drawn a little over Rs 9 lakh from the Central Nodal Agency (CNA) that has been assigned the task to disburse money to the states upon receiving an application.
The CNA for this scheme is the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
According to the affidavit, the ministry has earmarked an annual budgetary grant of Rs 20 crore for three financial years from 2023-24 to 2025-26 coinciding with the 15th Finance Commission cycle for providing the support to states under the said scheme.
The central government filed its affidavit in a pending case in which the top court had delivered comprehensive guidelines on bail, affirming the legal principle that “bail is the rule and jail is the exception”. A bench led by Justice M.M. Sundaresh had authored this verdict in 2022 and since then it has been hearing the case to streamline the process of grant of bail.
The Centre’s affidavit, which was perused by the bench Monday, also dealt with the court’s suggestion to formulate a separate law on bail. While referring to the newly-enacted penal codes, the Centre’s affidavit said: “As the provisions relating to Bail and Bonds in Chapter-XXXV of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanita (BNSS), 2023, are considered adequate, there is no proposal to bring a separate law on ‘Bail’.”
Disclosing more information about its Support to Poor Prisoners Scheme, the Centre said that in terms of its guidelines and standard operating procedure, States and UTs were, in June 2023, asked to constitute an empowered committee in each district of the state/UT and an oversight committee at the state-headquarter level.
The empowered committee has been given the mandate to assess the requirement of financial support in each case for securing bail or payment of fine. Based on a decision taken by this committee, the district commissioner or district magistrate will have the funds drawn from the CNA for providing financial aid to poor prisoners.
As for the constitution of this committee, the government affidavit said 28 states and UTs have given effect to it. Eight states and UTs—Bihar, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry—are yet to confirm the steps that they have taken in this regard. Twenty-six states, it added, have also confirmed about opening the subsidiary account where the central funds would be deposited subject to the application received from the states.
The Centre, on its part, has also repeatedly emphasized the significance of the scheme during its review meeting with the States and UTs, with the MHA each time reminding them to identify eligible prisoners in their respective jurisdictions for the scheme.
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