Context:

Recently, The Union Home Minister said that undertrials who have spent more than a third of the maximum prescribed sentence for the crime they are accused of committing should be released before the Constitution Day of India.

More on the News

• The Supreme Court also directed Jail Superintendents to make special efforts to identify women prisoners who may qualify for release under Section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.
• The Supreme Court passed the order after perusing the statistics placed on record by Amicus Curiae Gaurav Agrawal and NALSA counsel Rashmi Nandkumar regarding the implementation of earlier Apex Court orders on expeditious release of undertrial prisoners.

Section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, (BNSS) 2023

• It laid down the maximum period for which undertrial prisoners can be detained.
• Section 479 of (BNSS) is an upgraded version of Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
• Section 436A of IPC states that a prisoner who is not accused of offences punishable with death or life imprisonment shall be released on bail if he has “undergone detention for a period extending up to one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence under that law”
• BNSS has further relaxed the standard “provided that where such person is a first-time offender (who has never been convicted of any offence in the past) he shall be released on bond by the Court, if he has undergone detention for the period extending up to one-third of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for such offence under that law”
• Section 479 also specifies that if there are pending investigations or trials into more than one offence or in “multiple cases” relating to the same person then he shall not be released on bail by the Court.

Committee on Undertrial Prisoners

• Justice Amitara Roy Committee 2018: Its recommendations include the mandatory segregation of undertrials, the establishment of a robust grievance mechanism and the use of video conferencing in Court.