RTI comes to the aide of undertrial prisoners

The Maharashtra Information Commission today directed state prison authorities to display details of undertrial prisoners who are in jail for more than half the maximum term scheduled for crimes they are charged for, which is an apparent violation of the criminal law.
The order might being relief to these prisoners as the CrPC allows such inmates to be released on bail or on personal bond.
The directives were issued on the plea of former Central Information Commissioner and activist Shailesh Gandhi.
"Section 463A of CrPc says that the maximum period for which an under trial prisoner can be detained without being released is not more than 50 per cent of the maximum imprisonment specified for the charge he is booked for," Gandhi said.

He said according to law such undertrials can be released on personal bond if they cannot furnish bail.
"Yet, our legal system does not follow this law and under trials- most of whom will not be convicted- suffer in prison because they are poor. Despite the protection of law, there is no relief for most of them," he said.
When Gandhi approached Maharashtra Information Commission, Chief Information Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad used the powers under Section 19(8) of the RTI Act and directed the prison department to make public the information about undertrials who are jail for more than half the maximum sentence they are charged with.

He directed the authorities to place this information on display boards and websites as mandatory suo-moto disclosure clause of the RTI Act.