A total of 429 undertrial prisoners across Telangana who were granted bail are still languishing in jails as they are unable to pay bail amount or provide surety, reveals an RTI response from the Telangana Prisons Department. The RTI application was filed by Sridhar Rao Maddela, a businessman and aspiring organic farmer from Telangana.
Some of these undertrial persons had secured bail in 2019. Most of the undertrials still in prison are men from low-income backgrounds and from minority communities, say prison officials. Some of the offences the undertrial persons have been booked under are theft, property damage, immoral trafficking, kidnapping, outraging the modesty of women, murder, sexual abuse involving children, violation of the Wildlife Act and Essential Commodities Act, among other sections of Indian Penal Code.
Among the districts, Nizamabad, Jagtial, Asifabad, Warangal, Karimnagar, housed the highest number of undertrial persons unable to secure bail money. A sizable number are also at the Cherlapally, Chanchalguda prisons in Hyderabad.
Bachu Saidaiah, Inspector General (IG), Telangana Prisons Department, told TNM that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several non-governmental organisations that used to assist deserving undertrial persons to secure bail money have stopped visiting the prisons. “Whether the undertrial person is able to secure bail money or not has to be checked by the judiciary and the prosecution. As such, we release the undertrials unconditionally if they have served half the sentence prescribed under the IPC sections.”
The IG said it would be unwise to club all these 429 people as people deserving to be assisted. “For instance, if two people got drunk and had a fight where one person ended up dead, the accused person is not a repeat offender. Here, there is a chance of reforming and so one can help. But about 40 to 50 people in that list are repeat offenders, some have several other cases against them. Their families have disowned them,” says Saidaiah. “Several persons in that list are under trial for child sexual abuse. So, when it comes to helping someone secure funds for bail, it needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.”