PRISON STATISTICS INDIA 2014

Chapter – 6
Period of Detention of Undertrial Prisoners
The undertrial prisoners formed a
major share of prison inmates among various
types of prisoners. The percentage of
undertrial and convicted prisoners to the total
prisoners in various jails was reported as
67.6% and 31.4% respectively in the country
during 2014.
The number and percentage of
undertrial prisoners by period of detention are
presented in Table-6.1 and Table-6.2
respectively with the period of detention
varying from up to 3 months to above 5
years.
It may be seen from the table that
except Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab,
Uttarakhand and Daman & Diu most of
undertrial prisoners were detained for upto
three months in majority of the States / UTs
indicating good number of release of older
undertrials from prisons during 2014. All
undertrials inmates were detained upto only
3 months in Lakshadweep during 2014. The
highest percentage of detention up to 3
months was reported in Lakshadweep
(100.0%) (2 inmates) followed by D & N
Haveli (90.5%), Mizoram (78.6%),
Puducherry (72.3%), Tripura (68.3%), Kerala
(64.9%), Assam (63.2%), Telangana (57.2%)
and Arunachal Pradesh (51.6%). In terms of
absolute numbers, Uttar Pradesh (19,923)
followed by Madhya Pradesh (7,424), Bihar
(72,900), West Bengal (7,047), Maharashtra
(6,968) and Jharkhand (4,359) reported the
higher number of undertrial prisoners
detained up to three months.
Significant proportion of prisoners
was detained for a period of 3 to 6 months in
Sikkim (31.2%), Andhra Pradesh (29.8%),
Tamil Nadu (28.8%) and Arunachal Pradesh
& Chhattisgarh (27.4% each). Uttar Pradesh
(13,432) had the highest number of inmates
detained for a period of 3 + to 6 months in
terms of absolute numbers followed by Bihar
(6,804) and Madhya Pradesh (4,304).
reported the highest number of undertrial
prisoners (10,946) detained for a period of 6 +
months to 1 year followed by Bihar (5,794).
Daman & Diu has also reported the high
percentage (23.8%) of undertrial prisoners for 1 +
year to 2 years followed by Goa (22.5%) and
Himachal Pradesh (21.6%). In terms of absolute
numbers, Uttar Pradesh (8,590) followed by
Bihar (3,342) reported the highest number of
undertrial prisoners detained for a period more
than one year but less than two years. All
undertrials inmates detained upto 2 years in
Mizoram during 2014.
Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest
number of inmates (5,123) detained for a period
of 2 + years to 3 years followed by Bihar (1,895),
Punjab (1,642) and Rajasthan (1,538). The
percentage of undertrial prisoners detained for
2 + years to 3 years was less than 10% of the
total undertrials in all the States/UTs except
A&N Islands (16.1%), Jammu & Kashmir
(13.6%), Daman & Diu (12.7%), Gujarat
(12.0%), Goa (11.5%), Punjab (10.6%) and
Rajasthan (10.5%). All undertrial inmates were
detained upto 3 years in Arunachal Pradesh,
Kerala, Sikkim, Chandigarh, D&N Haveli and
Daman & Diu during 2014.
A total of 12,052 undertrial prisoners
were lodged beyond 3 years and upto 5 years at
the end of the year 2014. There were 3,479
such undertrial prisoners in Uttar Pradesh
followed by Bihar (1,198), Rajasthan (1,088),
Punjab (1,038), Jharkhand (839), Maharashtra
(677), West Bengal (633) & Gujarat (614). The
highest percentage of undertrial prisoners
detained for more than three years but less than
five years was reported from Jammu & Kashmir
(14.4%) followed by Goa (12.0%), A&N Islands
(10.3%) and Gujarat (8.2%). All undertrial
inmates were detained upto 5 years in Himachal
Pradesh and A&N Island during 2014.
A total of 3,540 undertrials were
detained in jails for 5 years or more in the
country. The highest number of such undertrial
prisoners were reported from Uttar Pradesh
where 1,022 undertrials were lodged in various
jails for over 5 years, which accounted for
28.9% of such prisoners at the national level,
followed by Rajasthan (523, 14.8%) and Bihar
(477, 13.5%) during 2014.
The percentage of prisoners detained
for a period of 6 + months to 12 months was
highest in Daman & Diu (36.5%) as
compared to percentage of prisoners lodged
for various time periods. Similar trend
prevailed in Uttarakhand (29.3%) also. In
term of absolute numbers Uttar Pradesh has
Prison Statistics India-2014 111