India's Poor Prisoners to Get Swift Bail Relief: Centre Issues New Guidelines
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The Union home ministry has directed states to expedite the release of underprivileged prisoners unable to afford bail, following a Supreme Court order to review existing guidelines under the 2023 Support to Poor Prisoners Scheme.The ministry has revised its guidelines to ensure the scheme's effective implementation, citing inadequate state-level progress. The scheme, launched in 2023, provides financial assistance to states to cover bail amounts for poor prisoners. However, the assistance was not being used efficiently, with many prisoners remaining incarcerated due to their inability to pay.The new guidelines exclude prisoners involved in serious crimes, such as rape, human trafficking, and national security cases. In other cases, like drug trafficking and corruption, the eligibility criteria remain unchanged. To streamline the process, the guidelines now require jail authorities to inform the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) within seven days of a court order. The DLSA must then arrange for a lawyer or paralegal volunteer to interact with the prisoner and update the authority within five days.The revised guidelines also increase the ceiling on bail amounts from ₹40,000 to ₹50,000, with the discretion to pay up to ₹1 lakh in exceptional cases. The ministry has asked the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to develop a format for jail visiting lawyers to obtain information from undertrial prisoners about their financial capacity and available funds. This format will be circulated to all state legal services authorities and district legal services authorities for implementation.
