Hyderabad, June 07: Undertrial prisoners continue to suffer in jails for years without trial. An example is Machavarapu Maria Dasu, an undertrial prisoner from Guntur district jail, who has been languishing in prison for over six years without trial. Maria Dasu is an accused in 13 cases, one of which dates back to 2002. In a petition to the State Human Rights Commission, through the Guntur jail superintendent, Mr B. Lakshmi Narsiah, he complained that he had been languishing in jail since May 1, 2005 and his trial was yet to commence.
“I have been illegally charged with several offences based purely on confessions made in police custody,’’ Maria Dasu said, pleading that either all of his cases should be disposed of within three months or else he should be acquitted. Admitting the petition, the commission’s acting chairman, Mr K. Peda Peri Reddy, observed that the situation was a gross violation of human rights. “The jail authorities and public prosecutors of the courts concerned should coordinate in such cases so that all the cases are posted for hearing on one day,’’ he suggested.
“Irrespective of who the person is and the offence he has been charged with, inordinate delay in starting his trial amounts to gross violation of human rights,” the commission observed. The SHRC directed the director-general and inspector-general of prisons and correctional services to submit a detailed report on such cases by September 14. Even more shocking is a report submitted by SHRC to the National Human Rights Commission during a recent seminar on prison reforms, stating that of the 2,269 prisoners lodged in 11 district jails across the state, 1,947, that is about 85 per cent were undertrial prisoners in 2009 alone.
In some district jails, the number of undertrial prisoners outnumber the authorised capacity of the jail. For instance, while the authorised capacity of the Sanga Reddy district jail is 95, it has 125 undertrial prisoners and Vijayawada jail has 287 undertrial prisoners though its authorised capacity is just 166.