New Delhi: Expressing displeasure over the fact that several States and UTs are yet to constitute empowered committee for the of the implementation of the ‘Support to Poor Prisoners Scheme’ with an annual outlay of Rs 20 crore, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked them to complete the activity in a time bound manner.
“The Guidelines and SOP forwarded to the States and UTs envisage constitution of an ‘Empowered Committee’ in every District of the State and UT and constitution of an ‘Oversight Committee’ at the State and UT headquarter level. The Ministry of Home Affairs, through VC meetings held with the State and UT representatives, has been emphasising upon early constitution of such Committees by the States and UTs and for identifying prisoners who can be given the benefit of this scheme. While some States and UTs have confirmed the constitution of the Committees, many States and UTs are yet to provide a confirmation in this regard. You are requested to kindly take urgent steps to complete this activity in a time bound manner,” a letter sent to all State governments and UT administrations recently stated.
The letter, a copy of which is available with ETV Bharat, was sent to the Chief Secretaries, Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretary, Secretary (Home, Jails) of all States and UTs. A copy of it was sent to DG and IG (Prisons) of all States and UTs. Home Minister Amit Shah last year in May had written to the Chief Ministers of all States and UTs informing them about the scheme and appealed to them to take full advantage of this initiative.
Subsequently, the Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla in June, 2023 forwarded the ‘Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure’ to the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs. According to the home ministry this scheme will go a long way in not only mitigating the problems faced by poor prisoners but will also help in solving the problem of overcrowding in prisons.
Talking to the ETV Bharat, former director general of Uttar Pradesh police Prakash Singh said that this initiative, if implemented properly, would go a long way to help the poor prisoners. “On many occasions, it is found that prisoners are unable to get bail due to financial issues. In fact, this initiative of the central government would also help in handling the issue of overcrowding in jails,” Singh said.
As per the latest National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data, with 18,497 inmates lodged in space meant for 10,026, Delhi’s prison occupancy rate stood at 184.5 percent followed by Uttarakhand’s 183.3 percent which has 6,858 inmates against a capacity of 3,741 and Uttar Pradesh’s 179.9 percent where 1,21,609 are lodged despite space for 67,600. For implementing the scheme, the home ministry has designated the NCRB as the Central Nodal Agency (CNA) for implementing this scheme. Accordingly, NCRB has opened a CNA account in Canara Bank for the Support to Poor Prisoners Scheme.
On January 3, all States and UTs were advised by MHA to open a subsidiary account and have it mapped with the CNA account on PFMS. While some States and UTs have confirmed opening of the subsidiary account, several others are yet to provide a confirmation in this regard. According to the SOP issued by the home ministry, if the undertrial prisoner is not released from the jail within a period of 7 days of order of grant of bail, then the jail authority would inform the secretary, District Legal Services Authority (DLSA).
“Secretary, DLSA would inquire and examine whether the undertrial prisoner is not in a position to furnish financial surety for securing bail in terms of the bail conditions. For this, DLSA may take the assistance of Civil Society representatives, social workers, NGOs, District Probation officers or revenue officers. This exercise would be completed in a time bound manner within a period of 10 days. Such cases will then be put before the District Level Empowered Committee every 2-3 weeks. After examination of such cases, if the Empowered Committee recommends that the identified poor prisoner be extended the benefit of financial benefit under ‘Support to poor prisoners Scheme”, then the requisite amount upto Rs 40,000 per case for one prisoner, can be drawn and made available to the Court by way of Fixed Deposit or any other method, which the District Committee feels appropriate,” the SOP stated.
However, this benefit will not be available to persons who are accused of offences under Prevention of Corruption Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, NDPS or Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or any other Act or provisions. Similarly, if a convicted person is unable to get released from the jail on account of nonpayment of fine amount, the superintendent of the jail would immediately inform secretary, DLSA in a time bound manner of 7 days.
“The Empowered Committee will sanction the release of the fine amount up to Rs 25,000 to be deposited in the Court for securing the release of the prisoner. For any amount over and above Rs 25,000, the proposal may be approved by the State level Oversight Committee,” the SOP stated.
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