Bail amount, legal aid: How 1,000 Maharashtra inmates got help in 2019

Source: Hindustan Times dated 17.02.2020

-- Faisal Tandel

Around 1,000 inmates, who were locked up in 10 jails across the state owing to lack of access to legal aid or financial constraints to pay surety, have been released on bail between January and December 2019, thanks to a joint initiative between the prisons department and the Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI). The project — the result of a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the prisons department and APPI on June 28, 2018 — was undertaken in order to tackle overcrowding in jails across the state.

In October 2019, HT had reported that although the 60 prisons across the state had a capacity of 24,032 inmates, the current population was 50% higher, at 36,195.

The 1,000 inmates were released from jails in Nagpur, Kalyan, Latur, Amravati, Akola, Arthur Road, Thane, Byculla, Yerwada in Pune and Taloja.

To keep a tab on the initiative, a project implementation and monitoring committee — under the chairmanship of Sunil Ramanand, additional director of general, prisons — was formed in September 2019.

“Our aim is to decongest the jails in Maharashtra. The initiative is reaping good results. The NGO members periodically visit the jails and take a review of the inmates and accordingly help them get legal access. It is a continuous process. In a year or two, we hope to see a positive change,” said Ramanand.

The prisons department and APPI have roped in implementation partners such as Prayas, a field action project of the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS); Fair Trial Fellowship project by the National Law University (NLU), Delhi; and VARHAD, an NGO based in Amravati.

Prayas, which played a significant role in the signing of the MoU between APPI and the home department, works in six prisons at Arthur Road, Byculla, Thane, Kalyan, Taloja and Latur. NLU Delhi is working in Yerawada Central Jail in Pune and Nagpur Central Jail, while VARHAD is working in Amravati and Akola prisons. John Jacob, co-ordinator of APPI, refused to comment on the project citing company policy.

Professor Vijay Raghavan, of the Centre for Criminology and Justice at TISS, who is the project director of Prayas, said, “A legal consultant and social worker have been appointed for each jail. The legal consultants are enrolled under District Legal Services Authority (DLSA). They identify the undertrials in need of legal aid and also those who’ve been granted bail but continue to languish in prisons owing to lack of surety or cash amount. The legal consultants then write legal aid applications on their behalf and expedite the appointment of legal aid lawyers by coordinating with DLSA,” said Raghavan. “They also follow up with the appointed lawyers to ensure they attend court dates and also submit bail applications, or modification of bail applications,” he said.

Between December 2018 and December 2019, Prayas members reached out to around 3,858 inmates across the six jails, wrote 1,893 applications to DLSA, and helped 701 undertrials get bail and 51 get bail on personal bond. It has helped in 15 acquittals and 383 convictions. Raghavan said they also regularly organise workshops and training sessions for the legal aid lawyers to motivate and update them.

Ravindra Vaidya, founder-president of VARHAD, said he’s been working with the Amravati Central Jail for the past six months. “We are going to start work in Akola jail soon. We have six people in our team who visit the jail and identify problems of inmates. In most of the cases, we found the inmates are suffering in jail owing to incompetent lawyers or for financial reasons. Once we meet an inmate, we first study the case and then visit his house and get details about him, for instance, if he is financially weak or needs an advocate. Also, if there is an advocate, then we get a follow-up and bridge the communication gap between the family and the advocate,” he said. “In the past six months, we have reached out to 150 prisoners and helped 50 inmates get bail,” he added. Dr Anup Surendranath, assistant professor of law, executive director, Project 39A of NLU, Delhi, said that from January to December 2019, their team had reached out to around 2,406 inmates in Pune and Nagpur jails, and helped 1,322 inmates get legal aid. Around 228 inmates were released on bail; 63 inmates got acquittal; 92 inmates were convicted; six inmates got their sentences reduced; and 123 cases were withdrawn by the complainants.

Yogesh Desai, deputy inspector of general (DIG), Pune, said the initiative is basically aimed at improving communication between the inmate’s family and the advocate. “We have also noticed cases wherein inmates don’t even have their Aadhaar cards or the family is not aware about them being in prison. In such cases the legal aid team reaches out to the family and continuously follows up to help the prisoners get bail. This has helped reduce the stress on inmates.”