By Payal Mehta
New Delhi [India], April 3 : In a written reply to a question asked by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Poonam Mahajan and Congress MP Ramya Haridas, the Centre has said that it has no plans right now to set up fast track courts for undertrials.
Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju replied, "The setting up of subordinate courts and its functioning including Fast Track Courts (FTCs) lies within the domain of State Governments which they set up as per their need and resources in consultation with respective High Courts. Presently, there is no proposal to set up fast track courts for undertrials."
In another question asked by several MPs on the number of Undertrial Review Committees (UTRCs) set up in the country and if they have been able to reduce the number of undertrial prisoners and reduce the time spent by them in prisons in the country, Rijiju said, "During the year 2021 and 2022, a total of 17,020 and 35,480 inmates /Undertrial Prisoners (UTPs) were released pursuant to recommendations of the UTRCs. The UTRCs review a total of 14 categories of cases of prisoners for recommending release." The centre informed that at present a total of 677 UTRCs were functional across the country."
The minister has also said in his reply, "Campaign namely "Release_UTRC@75" for release of prisoners by the UTRC to commemorate the 75thIndependence Day in India, was conducted from 16th July 2022 to 13th August 2022."
During the recent interaction between CJI DY Chandrachud and MPs from the standing committee for Law and Justice, a key point of discussion was ways to lessen the burden of undertrials, who have been languishing in jail for a long time, even without being able to get justice from a court of law.
As per the records, the number of under trials, cutting across jails in the country comprise 75 per cent of the total number of persons jailed.
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