Not many prisoners will benefit in Karnataka

BENGALURU: The Supreme Court's direction to the states and Union territories to release the undertrial prisoners, who have served half of their maximum prison term without conviction, may not help majority of such prisoners in Karnataka. “We have around 9,000 undertrial prisoners in the State, but there are hardly any who may qualify for release under the Supreme Court guidelines because they have not completed half their maximum prison term," said Inspector General of Prisons, V.S. Raja. There are around 13,400 prisoners in Karnataka, out of whom 9,000 are under trial. Maximum prisonsentence depends upon the crime that the undertrial prisoner may have committed.

"The maximum prison term depends upon the section of law (Indian Penal Code) under which he/she may have been arrested,” said Mr Raja. He added that granting bail is the prerogative of the court and it is denied only in adverse cases, where a prisoner is a repeat offender or has jumped the bail. The Apex Court on Friday said the undertrial prisoners can be released if they have served half their maximum term without trial. The Chief Justice of India, R.M. Lodha, said that prisons across the country must comply with the law and ordered local judges and magistrates to oversee the process. According to estimates out of the over four lakh prisoners in the country two-thirds or 2.5 lakh prisoners are yet to be convicted. They have been languishing in the prison for lack of speedy trial for years together.