Supreme Court has delivered a landmark judgment to help financially weak prisoners languishing in jails despite being granted bail by the subordinate courts. The court modified Standard Operating Procedure to streamline the payment of bail amounts for poor undertrial prisoners through the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA). A bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order after considering suggestions from Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati and senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, who appeared as amicus curiae. The revised SOP modifies an earlier version issued on February 13 last year. Under the new framework, a District Level Empowered Committee (DLEC) will be formed in every district. The committee will include a nominee of the District Magistrate, the Secretary of the DLSA, the Superintendent of Police, the Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent of the concerned prison, and the Judge in charge of the prison. The DLSA Secretary will act as the convenor of these meetings. The Supreme Court directed that if an undertrial prisoner is not released within seven days of the bail order, the jail authorities must inform the DLSA Secretary. The DLSA will then verify the prisoner’s savings account and, if funds are unavailable, forward a request to the empowered committee for the release of funds. The DLEC is required to release the funds within five days of receiving the DLSA’s recommendation. The court also ordered that the DLEC should meet on the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month to review cases recommended by the DLSA. Financial assistance under the ‘Support to Poor Prisoners’ Scheme’ may be granted up to Rs 50,000 per case. In exceptional circumstances, the committee may approve a higher amount up to Rs 1 lakh. Data reveals there were 506,660 prisoners in Indian jails by January 2025. Of them 375,000 were undertrials, which is 74.2 per centof the prison population. Nearly half of the undertrials are between 18 to 30 years of age. The SC judgment will go a long way in delivering justice to the poor and marginalised. Thousands of undetrials have got the bail but are unable to pay the bonds because of the poverty. Some undetrials are jailed for petty offences and have been bailed out by the courts. Yet their families are unable to pay the bail surety because of precarious financial condition. With the result, they continue to languish in jails. Some have served more time in prison than the maximum possible sentence for their alleged crime. The SC has set the template and it is now the governments to implement in toto. Justice delayed is justice denied. Therefore, all stakeholders should work to better the justice system in the country. SC judgment on poor undertrials is a right step in right direction. Let justice prevail!!
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