New Delhi: Dr Santanu Sen, Rajya Sabha Speaker from the All India Trinamool Congress, raised the issue of the majority of undertrial prisoners belonging to the SC, ST, and OBC communities in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. "In India, 75% of prisoners are under trial, and 66% of them belong to SC, ST, and OBC communities. The statistics show bias and hatred towards these communities. Our PM has the 'Sabka Saath, lekin bass kuchh ka Vikas' approach," Sen said, addressing the Parliament.
He also laid down several other statistics in regard to the status and facilitation of the SC, ST, and OBC communities. "There has been an 86.5% decrease in the budgetary allocation for ST in the past few years. Similar trends were observed for the SC community as well," Sen added. "NDA nowadays no longer means National Democratic Alliance, it stands for No Data Available," he said while pointing out how the center denies being aware of certain statistics.
Sen further went on to other issues faced by the underprivileged communities including the scholarships, pensions, and employment being availed to them as well as the substantial increase in the number of hate crimes against them. "The budgetary allocation for these communities is very less. This shows how the government is not concerned about the underprivileged.
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BSP MP Shyam Singh Yadav also raised a question on the number of prisoners awaiting trials belonging to the SC, ST, and OBC communities in Uttar Pradesh. To a question on whether the Government is aware that around 76 percent of prisoners in jails are awaiting trial which is more than the global average of 34 percent, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra replied, "As of 31st December 2021, there were 5,54,034 prisoners lodged in the prisons of the country, out of which 4,27,165 were undertrial prisoners," citing the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report of 2021.
In a written reply, the MoS told the Rajya Sabha that out of 90,606 undertrial prisoners in the State of Uttar Pradesh, 21,942 belong to Scheduled Caste (SC) community, 4,657 belong to Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 41,678 belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC), Mishra, representing the central government, said in the Parliament.
When asked to comment on whether the Government is aware that there has been an increase in the number of arrests post-lockdown period which has led to the overcrowding of jails and spreading of communicable diseases, the MoS said that any specific information in this regard is not available with the NCRB.
