Sunday, 13 Oct, 2024
By: Arshi Qureshi
According to the most recent India Justice Report, eight out of every ten inmates in India were awaiting trial in 2021.
According to the most recent India Justice Report, eight out of every ten inmates in India were awaiting trial in 2021.
The observation comes after the recent report released by National Bureau of Crime Branch (NCRB) on Prison Statistics of India.
As per the report - out of India’s total of 5,54,034 prisoners as on 31 December 2021 - 4,27,165 of inmates were undertrials, 1,22,852 prisoners were convicts and 3,470 prisoners were detenues, accounting for 77.1%, 22.2%, and 0.6% respectively at the end of 2021.
Over all, 18,06,823 prisoners were admitted into the various jails in the country in 2021 - a 10.8% rise over the previous year (16,31,110 inmates).
In 2021 - release of undertrials has grown by 13.7% (from 12,91,504 in 2020 to 14,68,627 in 2021) while the release of convicts has decreased by 15.0% (from 1,09,516 in 2020 to 93,077 in 2021).
Despite having a population percentage of only 14.2%, Muslims made up nearly 30% of those detained in Indian prisons
Convicted Prisoners
From 1,12,589 in 2020 to 1,22,852 in 2021, the number of convicts rose by 9.1%.
Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of convicts - 26,956 (21.9%), followed by Madhya Pradesh at 19,266 (15.7%) and Chhattisgarh with 7,762 (6.3%).
Undertrial Prisoners
The number of undertrial prisoners increased from 3,71,848 in 2020 to 4,27,165 in 2021, an increase by 14.9%.
Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of undertrial prisoners - 90,606 (21.2%) , Bihar has second highest with 59,577 (13.9%) and Maharashtra at 31,752 (7.4%).
Detenues
Between December 31, 2020, and December 31, 2021, there were 3,470 fewer detenues than there were in 2020, a 3.3% reduction.
At the end of 2021, Tamil Nadu recorded the most detenues in the country (51.2%, 1,775), followed by Telangana (11.4%, 396), and Gujarat (10.7%, 372).
Women Prisoner
As of December 31st, there were 1,650 women imprisoned with 1,867 children - 1,418 of these female inmates were undertrial and 216 convicted criminals.
The highest number of inmates were lodged in jails of Tamil Nadu (574) followed by Delhi (559), Rajasthan (453) and Uttar Pradesh (309).
Death Sentence
148 people were awarded the death sentence in 2021.
Bihar reported 49 of the 148 people who received the capital punishment, followed by Uttar Pradesh (22), Andhra Pradesh (13), Tamil Nadu (12), Jharkhand and Uttarakhand (6 each), Gujarat and Rajashthan (5 each), Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and West Bengal (4 each).
In the year 2021, 35 criminals' death sentences were reduced to life imprisonment.
Uttar Pradesh accounted for 22.9% (8) of the 35 prisoners whose death sentences were commuted to life in prison, followed by Maharashtra (20.0% (7)) and Tamil Nadu (17.1%). (6).
