Waiting For Justice

The State of Undertrials in Rajasthan Prisons

Introduction
What is to be addresse
d
 18,873
AJASTHAN’S PRISON POPULATION AS ON 31 MARCH 20
5,452 13,421
Number of convictS Number of Under trials

This Essentially Means That…

For Every 1 Convict,
For Every 1 Convict, there are 2 Undertrials
in Rajasthan Prisons
Mandate
Go v er nme nt in te rv en ti on
 Purpose of the Samiti
KEEPING LIBERTY AS A PARAMOUNT VALUE…
Established in 1979 by the Rajasthan Government

According to the GO, the Samiti should meet EVERY MONTH

to review cases of undertrials who…
Have completed half or more than prescribed punishment
1 (now S.436A, Cr.P.C.)

Are accused of serious offences but have been undertrial

2
for a ‘long period’ of time

Have committed such petty offence that there is no need

3 to keep them in judicial custody
 Members of the Samiti
Chief Judicial Magistrate

Representative of District Magistrate

Representative of Superintendent of Police

District Probation Officer

Office In-Charge, District Prison

How are Samiti meetings conducted
Letter is sent from Prison to CJM’s office to decide meeting date

CJM decides the date and remaining 4 Members are

notified about the meeting particulars

Lists are prepared by prison staff according to 4 Proformas

(see below) for cases to be reviewed by the Samiti

Review Meeting is held in the premises of the prison

YES NO
Is the next meeting date
decided by the CJM?

Minutes of the Meeting sent to all the Members & Courts for
action
 Proformas
aA
Proform
Death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of not less than 10
years, completed 90 days under custody , investigations not concluded
[S.167(2)(a)(i)Cr.P.C.]

Proforma B

Term of imprisonment less than 10 years, completed 60 days,

investigation not concluded [S.167(2)(ii)Cr.P.C.]

aC
Proform

Completed more than the maximum term of sentence [S.428 Cr.P.C.]

Proforma D

Non-criminal lunatics for observation for more than 30 days

[S. 16 & 23 of Indian Lunacy Act, 1912]
Research
Our findings
 Collection of Data
TIME PERIOD: JUNE 2009 – JUNE 2010
Study Sample: 29 Prisons | 7 Central Jails & 22 District Jails

CJ Udaipur, DJ Gangapur city, DJ Jalore, DJ Jhunjhunu

 Number of Meetings

Sri Ganganagar

Number of Meetings Held

Not a single district conducted all 13 meetings!

 Number of Meetings
Number of Names of Districts
Meetings
1 Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bundi, Dausa, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Pali
2 Kota, Bikaner, Ajmer, Hanumangarh, Sirohi
3 Alwar, Dholpur, Baran, Barmer, Nagaur
4 Jaipur, Banswara, Jaisalmer, Sikar
5 Chittorgarh
6 Churu
7 Jodhpur, Pratapgarh
8
9 Karauli
10 Tonk, Rajsamand
11
12
13 Sri Ganganagar
 Reasons for Meetings not held
CJM could not decide on
meeting date

No Specific CJM / Superintendent on

leave
Reason

Administrative Reasons

Meeting not held due to

busy schedule

76% did not specify any reason for meetings not held
Attendance of Members
 Issues That Need Attention
Irregularity of Meetings –
Date of Meeting not decided in advance

Proformas not followed by the prison authorities in

preparing list of cases

Unrealistic Case Review - On an average, 340 (Central Jail)

to 177 (District Jails) cases reviewed in single meeting

No set format or practice to record minutes and quality

varied from prison to prison

No Action-taken Report provided by the respective courts

to inform the Samiti about the case-wise progress made

Information about Samiti meetings not proactively disclosed –

No provision to inform undertrial before or after the review
 Root Cause of Irregularities

Formed by the Government but headed by a judicial officer

v/s

No Authority to monitor its working

Conclusion
RECOMMEN DATI ONS
 Before the Samiti Meeting
 Dates must be pre-set at least six months in advance
– ensure proper preparation and maximum attendance

 Jail authorities must prepare jail-wise lists with strict adherence

to existing proformas and following Additional Proformas:
a. Serious Offenders punishable with death or life imprisonment
whose trial is continuing over two years
b. Petty Offenders punishable with imprisonment up to 2 years
c. Undertrials completed half or more than the maximum term of
prescribed punishment [S.436A, Cr. P.C., 1973]
d. Juveniles/whose age is contested
e. Mentally ill [S.328–339, Cr. P.C., 1973]
f. Persons detained under Chapter VII (Security For Keeping The
Peace And Good Behaviour) & S.151, Cr. P.C., 1973
– remove the possibility of arbitrariness in inclusion of names
 During the Samiti Meeting
 Effectively review cases qualitatively, touching all
important aspects of each case
– ensure that injustice is not perpetuated
 On request, opportunity for Undertrial to appear in
person
– facilitate disclosure of personal obstacles in obtaining
bail
 Inter-agency issues, like shortage of police escorts,
benefit to petty offenders under supervision of
Probation Officers, etc., must be discussed
– ensure better coordination among various agencies
 After the Samiti Meeting
 The outcome of the review must be shared with the undertrial
concerned
– right to know the status/obstacles to one’s trial

 Minutes of the Meeting:

a. must be detailed and complete & all Samitis must follow a style
guide
b. must indicate detail of each case reviewed
c. must specify action taken on each case reviewed in the previous
meeting and indicate whether persons have been released
d. must be sent in a timely fashion to all concerned
magistrates/judges of the district
e. must also be sent to the High Court Judge overseeing that
district along with any comments from the CJM as necessary
– ensure uniformity in the functioning of Samitis across the State
 Other Recommendations
 Statutory Recognition to Avadhik Samiksha Samiti

 Oversight and supervision by High Court Judge

overseeing that district

 A standard computerised data management system

to maintain records of the prisoners in all prisons

 List of prisoners under review during a month,

proceedings of the Samiti and its records should be
proactively put in the public domain under S.4 of
the RTI Act
We are your RESPONSIBILITY!
We NEED you!!
Thank you!

Prison Reforms Programme,

CHRI