MHA to provide financial help to poor jail inmates unable to afford penalty, bail amount

Providing financial support to poor prisoners who are unable to afford their penalties or bail amounts was one of the announcements Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made in her Budget speech this year.

The Centre is taking various steps to address the issue of undertrials in prisons. Under this, one of the announcements is ‘Support for Poor Prisoners’. Other steps include inserting Section 436A in the Code of Criminal Procedure and inserting a new chapter XXIA ‘Plea Bargaining’ in the CrPC.

According to the MHA, the broad contours of the scheme have been finalised in consultation with the stakeholders concerned under which the Centre will provide financial support to states in order to extend relief to those poor prisoners who are unable to avail of bail or get released from prisons owing to non-payment of fine, on account of financial constraints.

“To further strengthen the process, technology-driven solutions will be put in place to ensure that benefits reach the poor prisoners; reinforcing the E-prisons platform; strengthening of District Legal Services Authority and sensitization and capacity building of stakeholders to ensure that quality legal aid is made available to needy poor prisoners, etc,” the MHA said.

“Free legal aid is being provided to poor prisoners through Legal Services Authority at various levels,” the ministry said. “Further to ensure the benefits of the budget are extended across all intended sections of the society, one of the priorities of the Budget, namely the guiding ‘Saptarishis’ is reaching the last mile,” it added.

“Prisons are an important part of the criminal justice system and play a significant role in upholding the rule of law and the Home Ministry has been sharing important guidelines with state governments through various advisories issued from time to time,” the MHA said.