The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : KSHRC wants better conditions for undertrials

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

KSHRC wants better conditions for undertrials

Bageshree S.

Bangalore: Bangalore’s Central Prison has 4,963 inmates now, of whom 3,478 are undertrials. While it is their Constitutional right to seek legal help, the circumstances in the jail premises are far from conducive. A recent directive from the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission to the Director-General of Police (Prisons) might make the physical conditions a tad better for undertrials to meet and speak to lawyers.

In response to a petition submitted by an advocate, the commission has observed that the situation prevailing in the jail premises “requires immediate action of the administration of jails to provide a suitable and conducive place where advocates and other visitors meet the prisoners”. The commission has asked the DGP to rectify the situation.

Siji Malayil, an independent advocate who handles cases for South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring, had in his petition to the commission, detailed the hardships prisoners face in interacting with advocates.

Mr. Malayil had narrated his experiences on his visit to the Central Prison on September 9 to meet an undertrial. The procedure involved was long-drawn and the conditions under which he was finally allowed to meet were far from favourable for free consultation, he noted in the petition. The room in which he was asked to sit with the undertrial was approximately 120 sq. ft in which 18 to 20 advocates were crammed. “About 35 to 40 undertrial prisoners came to meet their advocates in the same room,” he noted.

There were hardly any chairs and tables, and worse still, there was no place to move around, Mr. Maliyal said. “The time allotted to the advocates to visit the undertrial prisoners is between 3.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. By the time the prisoners come, half an hour is already up. There is hardly any time to speak or listen,” he narrated.

“Many advocates travel about 20 to 25 km to reach the prison. As I observed, most of the undertrial prisoners who come to meet their advocates are from economically weaker sections of the society, who are hardly in a position to engage an advocate. This is the only opportunity available to the undertrial prisoners to meet their councils and give instructions regarding their cases. If basic facilities are not provided it will be difficult for the advocates to defend their cases and do justice,” Mr. Maliyal said in the petition.

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