Speed up release of those who can’t afford bail: Govt to states

The Union home ministry has urged all state chief secretaries and heads of state prisons to expedite release of poor prisoners who have not got bail due to their inability to pay the bail amount, officials aware of the matter said.

They added that the ministry has revised its guidelines dealing with underprivileged prisoners following a Supreme Court order of October 8, which sought a review of the existing guidelines and SOPs under the 2023 Support to Poor Prisoners Scheme.

The letter has pointed out that the implementation of the scheme across states was “inadequate and sub-optimal, directly impeding the realisation of its core objectives”.

Support to prisoners scheme was launched by MHA in 2023 under which financial assistance is provided to states/UTs, which can be used to bail amount of poor prisoners. The assistance is granted in cases where bail is granted but prisoner is unable to pay and stays in jail.

The new guidelines make it clear that the scheme will not be applicable to prisoners involved in case such as rape, offences under the Pocso Act, human trafficking and cases involving national security. This distinction was earlier not explicitly mentioned in the 2023 guidelines, officials said. Other categories of prisoners involved in cases such as drug trafficking, terror acts, money laundering and corruption cases remain unchanged, they added.

According to the new guidelines, if a prisoner is not released from the jail within seven days of the court order, the jail authority must inform the secretary District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), after which the DLSA must immediately arrange for an interaction of the prisoner with a jail visiting lawyer/paralegal volunteer/district probation officer or a civil society representative to verify the prisoner’s case and update the DLSA within 5 days.

Under the 2023 guidelines, district magistrates played a key role in approving and releasing funds to help prisoners with their bail amounts. However, the new rules put the onus on the DLSA secretary, who has been made the convener or coordinating in charge. The district magistrate will nominate his representative to the committee, which also has representatives from the police and district judge.

The DLSA had been mandated to complete the process within 10 days, with help from civil society representatives/ NGOs, district probation officers. But, there was no mention of jail visiting lawyers.

While the 2023 rules called for the committee to discuss cases of poor prisoners every 2-3 weeks, the revised SOPs has set specific dates to hold such meetings twice every month.

The ceiling on the bail amount has also been raised under the rules from ₹40,000 to ₹50,000. The committee has also been empowered to exercise discretion to pay a higher amount but not exceeding ₹1 lakh.

The MHA on December 12 also wrote the National Legal Services Authority(NALSA) requesting the top body to prepare a format to be used by the Jail Visiting Lawyer (JVL) or paralegal volunteer (PLV) to obtain information from undertrial prisoners regarding their financial capacity and availability of funds in the Prisoner’s Savings Account. “The prescribed format may be circulated to all SLSAs/DLSAs,” the letter to NALSA’s member secretary said.