[1]Overflowing water from a septic tank has poured into a Rail Police (G.R.P.) Lockup at Burdwan Rail Station. People kept in the lockup are finding it very difficult to stay there. Image by Sanjoy Carmaker. Copyright Demotix (18/10/2013)
Indian alternative news portal Beyond Headlines [2] sheds light on the darker side of India's judiciary. In India, of all people detained in lockups and state prisons there are more people under trial than convicts.
Because of the slow process of the judiciary process, thousands of people suspected or accused of a crime end up waiting for trial for years in cramped prison cells which lack electricity, food and other necessities. About 250,000 men and women in India are currently in jail without having been proven guilty. Their fate or innocence is bound by the course of their trials.
And who and where are all these detainees? These tweets explain:
From my colleague @srirams91 [3], here's India's undertrial map pic.twitter.com/Q0oo0oTBwT [4]
— Rukmini S (@rukmini_shrini) October 30, 2014 [5]
Can You Imagine Being Jailed For Years As An Undertrial? The Story Of This Man Will Shock You! http://t.co/Ov42FEbJdc [6] @YouthKiAwaaz [7] #436A [8]
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) September 23, 2014 [9]
Freeing the detainees awaiting trial is also not a good option, as Sudhir Krishnaswamy and Shishir Bail [10] write in the Hindu: “Without substantive reforms to the investigation and trial process, early release of undertrials may further aggravate the pathologically low rates of conviction and incarceration in the Indian criminal justice system.”