Support to Poor Prisoners Scheme
According to an affidavit filed before SC, the ministry of home affairs has earmarked an annual budgetary grant of Rs 20 crore for 3 financial years from 2023-24 to 2025-26 for the scheme, coinciding with the 15th Finance Commission cycle for providing the support to states under the said scheme.
The central nodal agency is National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The scheme to provide the financial support to poor prisoners who, on account of financial constraints, are unable to pay fines or furnish bail bonds to secure their release as according to court orders.
Only eight states have sought financial assistance under the ‘Support to Poor Prisoners Scheme’ in the past 2 years. The states include Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
Guidelines under the scheme includes the state constituting a empowered committee to assess the requirement of financial support. Based on the decision by the committee, the district commissioner oor district magistrate will have the funds drawn from the financial aid.
But only 28 states and UTs have formed the committee.
Eight states and UTs—Bihar, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry—are yet to confirm the steps that they have taken in this regard
As the provisions relating to Bail and Bonds in Chapter - XXXV (35) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanita (BNSS), 2023, are considered adequate, there is no proposal to bring a separate law on ‘Bail’.” - Central government
January 2025
Chennai High Court instructs trial courts to impose easily enforceable conditions while granting bail to those arrested in criminal cases
▪️ Based on a newspaper report, the High Court took suo motu cognizance of the cases of people who are in jail but unable to pay the bail amount despite getting bail
▪️ The government replied that 104 people are in jail without being able to pay the bail amount
▪️ The judges, who opined that there is no point in granting bail by imposing unenforceable conditions, adjourned the hearing of the case for 4 weeks
