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

Pre-trial Detention and Access to Justice in Orissa
member of the District Committee, it would be beneficial to sensitise him on the misuse of these
sections, its contribution in overcrowding prisons and in targeting the poor as “potential criminals”.
However, to safeguard the rights of those detained under these Preventive Sections, Article 22 of
the Indian Constitution provides certain clauses that need to be satisfied before detaining a person
for a period longer than three months. This has restricted the use of these Sections to detain
people for more than three months. However, people are still picked up by the police, arrested and
kept away from their family, work and daily lives for three months and more.
Angul Jail’s fortnightly report recorded two detenues in December 2008. The research team
anticipated the release of these detenues during the visit in August 2009, but was appalled
to learn that one of them continued to be detained even after seven months.
The research team, on inquiring about this, discovered that several people who were picked up
under these Sections were merely present at the wrong place at the wrong time. They were either
loitering around the railway platform or on the streets, oblivious to the fact that it was a crime to
be on the streets at that hour. The research team calculated the number of undertrial prisoners
under the Preventive Sections of the CrPC by reviewing the fortnightly reports obtained from
these prisons. Rourkela had the largest number (33) of detenues. 57 Choudwar had the second
largest number – 26 in June 2009 and 29 in July 2009. Bhubaneswar reported 12 detenues in July
2009, whereas Berhampur had one. The number of detenues in a prison also depends on other
factors, such as elections, festivals, etc. During these occasions the police make indiscriminate
arrests to demonstrate that law and order is being seriously taken care of.
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