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

Pre-trial Detention and Access to Justice in Orissa
proliferation of such a problem. It is important to note that this jail produces 15 prisoners in court
and 30 others through video linkage.
Choudwar reported an acute escort problem, with one head constable and two constables
transferring 12 prisoners to court, and on their return from court they guard about 32 prisoners,
which can pose a grave security threat. In Choudwar, prisoners reported that preferential treatment
was given to some prisoners who were regularly produced in court, while others suffered. Puri also
has a problem in arranging for the right number of escorts for prisoners. However, the prisoners
here were more concerned about a different issue. Some of them, even though they were taken to
court, were not being produced before the Magistrate. For instance, in Puri a prisoner confirmed
that for two months he was not taken to court at all, and for the next four to five months, when he
was escorted to court, he remained confined to the bus and was not produced before the Magistrate.
Most prisoners interviewed stated that they were regularly produced in court, though, some of
them did complain about not being brought before the Magistrate.
PRODUCTION BEFORE A MAGISTRATE
It is very disheartening to observe the justice delivery system work against prisoners at every stage
in their struggle to prove their innocence. Even their basic rights cannot be presumed to function
as mandated. If prisoners are produced by the police escorts regularly, there are still other challenges
that they have to confront – the Magistrate being present in court and being produced before him.
The Orissa Jail Manual, 1942 empowers the IG of Prisons to call for an explanation from the
District Magistrate in those cases where the undertrial prisoners have been detained in the hajat 81
for an unusual length of time. 82
Prisoners in Balasore have on several occasions been escorted to court, yet remained in the hajat
the entire day without being produced before the Magistrate. They were produced before the
Magistrate only 43 per cent of the times that they went to court. The prisoners were kept in the
bus, stationed at the hajat or the magistrate was not present. Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Puri also
had similar problems. However the problem was particularly appalling in Balasore. Even though
Orissa prisons have better escort facilities compared to several other states, the prisoners still
struggle to get their voices heard.
Videoconferencing
The 2009 Orissa Amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure circulated by the Governor of
Orissa to the prison department sanctions the “Magistrate to extend further detention in the judicial
custody on production of the accused either in person or through the medium of electronic video
linkage”. 83
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