Times of India: Hyderabad:
Monday, April 15, 2013.
In a move
that may provide relief to thousands of undertrials in state jails, the state
information commission is planning to direct the government to make public the
list of those who are languishing in prisons without trial for a long time,
officials said.
"We will
order the prisons department to immediately make the information on undertrials
public under the Right to Information act," said Jannat Hussain, chief
information commissioner. Activists said that this would help thousands of such
cases reach fast-track courts and speed up the judicial process.
Hussain took
the cue from his Maharashtra counterpart who directed the state prisons
department to declare the list of undertrials under section 4 (1) (b) of the
RTI Act and set a deadline of May 12. According to the section, every
government department must give out complete information about itself,
including details of its employees and their duties, and update it regularly.
In its order,
the information commission asked the prisons department to make public the list
of undertrials who have completed 50 per cent of the sentence they would get if
convicted of their crime. This is in accordance with section 463A of the
Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which says that the maximum period for which an
undertrial can be detained without being released is half of the maximum jail
time they would get for the crime for which they are booked.
RTI activists
in the state said they are hoping that the AP prisons department will also reveal
details about undertrials, which has so far been termed as classified
information. "There may be many undertrials who are in jail even after
finishing 50 per cent of their probable sentence. But there is hardly any
information on them," said activist C J Karira. "Undertrials being
denied timely justice is a rampant problem across India," he added.
Another
city-based RTI activist, Syed Shah Ali Hussaini, said hearings get postponed on
a regular basis, adding to the delay. "Presently, many VVIPs are lodged in
state jails and whenever there is a hearing, the whole machinery is
concentrated around them. There are reports of poor undertrials not getting a
chance to go to court because jail authorities fail to provide security and
vehicles," he said.
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