Pre-trial Detention and Access to Justice in Orissa - Commonwealth ...

Pre-trial Detention and Access to Justice in Orissa
2) The IG of Prisons should be responsible for monitoring and keeping a check on the
actions being taken;
3) The Member Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) should
provide free legal aid to those who qualify; and
4) A committee comprising the District Magistrate, Jail Superintendent and the Public
Prosecutor should periodically assess cases and report to court.
During the interviews with the prison officers, the team inquired if they had received any circular
from the IG Prisons directing that a system be established to monitor prisoners eligible for bail
under Sections 436 and 436A. While Angul, Bhadrak, Balasore, Berhampur and Choudwar denied
receiving such a circular, Bhubaneswar and Puri jails acknowledged receiving it. Interestingly, none
of the prisons were able to provide us with a copy of the circular. While the Bhubaneswar Special
Jail Officer knew partially about these Sections, none of the other prisons were aware of these
provisions. It is unfair to expect the naïve prisoners to be aware of these amendments, when their
custodians are ignorant about the provisions. If a prisoner is aware about it, s/he can directly
contact the Superintendent or the IG of Prisons, tell his lawyer to file a fresh bail application, or if
he does not have a lawyer get a free legal aid lawyer to apply for bail under the amended provisions.
CHRI assessed the situation of those prisoners under bailable offences across the seven prisons
the team visited and the 17 prisons from which the team obtained fortnightly reports. There were
229 prisoners across those 17 prisons that were charged under bailable offences and were eligible
under Section 436 of the CrPC (see Table 7). Twenty-three prisoners were eligible to be considered
for bail under Section 436A after having completed half their maximum sentence. There were five
prisoners in Berhampur Circle Jail who had completed their maximum punishable sentence had
they been convicted – they were eligible to be released under Section 436A.
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