| In the past few weeks many of my letters have touched on the
gradual erosion of India's democratic processes. The Women's Reservation Bill sparked off
a debate on the right to equality; the play on Nathuram Godse raised the issue of freedom
of expression. This week we focus on a similar subject. Every Indian is innocent till
proven guilty; this is one of the foundations of our democratic process. But as our story
this issue reveals, there are an estimated 1.63 lakh undertrials languishing in Indian
jails waiting, even decades, for their moment in court, for a verdict that may just prove
them innocent. The judiciary's responsibility
is not merely to dispense justice but to dispense it swiftly; delaying justice is an
injustice itself. The result is horrifying. Women, arrested for minor offences like
prostitution, are jailed indefinitely, left wondering if their children will recognise
them when they are set free. A man imprisoned for 36 years, nearly blind and unable to
speak, has been declared insane, yet instead of being shifted to an asylum is still kept
behind bars. Jails are veritable chambers of horror, a dehumanising experience and a
dangerous one too, for innocent people are forced to co-exist with hardened criminals.
Although the undertrial has become a perennial issue, we felt
it should not be a forgotten one. So an india today team, led by Assistant Editor Ashok
Malik and Principal Correspondent Sayantan Chakravarty, visited jails, spoke to tearful
families, even gained rare access to imprisoned undertrials. Their digging paid off. For
instance, according to reports compiled by the National Human Rights Commission, not even
one undertrial has spent more years in jail than if he had been convicted. As Malik says,
"Our investigation found a dozen cases to prove the contrary." The judiciary,
proud of its new-found activism, needs to direct its attention to solving this tragic and
most fundamental of problems.
(Aroon Purie) |
