Centre urges states, UTs to ensure undertrial prisoner relief in jails

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) wrote a letter on January 1 in this regard to the Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs as well as the Director General and Inspector General of prisons and correctional services of all states and UTs.

The states and UTs have also been requested to provide status of implementation of Section 479 of BNSS in prisons to the ministry in certain prescribed format starting from January 1 this year.

The format includes the details of the number of first time Undertrial Prisoners (UTPs) who have served one-third of the maximum sentence, number of applications preferred in the court by jail superintendent, number of UTPs released on bond, number of UTPs who have completed half of maximum sentence, number of applications preferred in the court by jail superintendent from other other UTPs, and the number of other UTPs released on bail.

 

"It is reiterated that the provisions of Section 479 of BNSS can go a long way in mitigating the situation of long detention faced by undertrial prisoners and can also address the issue of overcrowding in prisons. It is, therefore, expected that all states and UTs will cooperate in the matter and will advise the concerned prison authorities for taking necessary action in the matter and to furnish the desired information to MHA," reads the letter.

Section 479 (1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS) provides that if a person, during investigation, enquiry or trial under an offence (not being an offence for which the punishment of death or life imprisonment has been specified as one of the punishments under that law), has undergone detention for a period of one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence, he shall be released by the court on bail. In case of first-time offenders, such prisoners shall be released on bond by the court, if they have undergone detention for a period extending up to one-third of the maximum period of imprisonment for that offence. Further, Section 479 (3) of the BNSS casts a specific responsibility on the superintendent of the prison to make an application to the concerned court for release of aforementioned undertrial prisoners on bail or bond.

The MHA had issued an advisory to the states and UTs in this regard on October 16 last year and had requested them to provide the benefit of the provisions of Section 479 of BNSS to all eligible prisoners and have their bail applications filed in the court accordingly

On the occasion of Constitution Day dated November 26, the MHA had launched a special campaign under which all the states and UTs were requested to identify eligible prisoners under the provisions of the Section 479 of BNSS and move their applications to the concerned courts for their release on bail or bond.

Earlier, the Home Minister had also addressed a letter to the chief ministers of all states and UTs in this regard. The states and UTs had actively participated in this exercise and had furnished the details of the number of prisoners who benefitted from the provisions of Section 479 of BNSS upto November 26 last year.