Supreme Court Records SOP Suggested By Union Govt To Support Poor Prisoners

In the 2022 judgment in Satender Kumar Antil, the Court had stressed the importance of the rule "bail over jail" and issued a slew of directions to prevent unnecessary arrest and remand.

In the latest order dated February 13, the Division Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti passed certain other directions for its compliance by the States and its High Courts. Besides this, the Court also took into account this SOP titled “Guidelines and standard operating procedure for implementation of the scheme for support to poor prisoners.” The procedure, as framed by the Union, has been reproduced in the present order to ensure its compliance.

"The SOP if put in place by the Central Government, will indeed alleviate the situation of under trial prisoners by way of establishment of a dedicated empowered committee and funds etc," the Court observed.

The SOP is divided into three parts. It proposed specific directions for support to poor prisoners, undertrial prisoners, and convicted prisoners.

SOP For Poor Prisoners

One of the important points for this is the constitution of an Empowered Committee in each District of the State/UT. This Committee will assess the requirement of financial support in each case for securing bail or for payment of fines, etc.

The following will encompass as members of the committee:

i) District Collector (DC)/District Magistrate (DM), ii) Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, iii) Superintendent of Police, iv) Superintendent/ Dy. Supdt. of the concerned Prison and v) Judge in charge of the concerned Prison as nominee of the District Judge.

Imperatively, the funds required for this will be provided through the Central Nodal Agency (CNA), which is the National Crime Records Bureau.

“States/UTs will draw the requisite amount from the CNA on a case-to-case basis and reimburse the same to the concerned competent authority (Court) for providing relief to the prisoner.,” the SOP stated.

It may be noted that the Committee can also appoint a Nodal Officer and take assistance from any civil society representative/social worker/ District Probation Officer to assist them in processing cases of needy prisoners. Lastly, the constitution of an Oversight Committee is also suggested at the State level.

The SOP has also clarified that the formation of these committees is suggestive in nature, given that prisons/persons detained come within the State-List.

SOP For Undertrial Prisoners

Under this head, it has been stated that if the undertrial prisoner is not released from jail within a period of seven days bail order, then the jail authority would inform the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA).

The DLSA will, in turn, inquire if the undertrial prisoner is not in a position to furnish financial surety for his/ her bail. Pertinently, this exercise is required to be done within ten days. Following this, the DLSA will place such cases before the aforesaid District Level Committee every 2-3 weeks.

After scrutinization, if the Committee is of the view that the identified poor prisoner should be extended financial benefit, then the amount up to Rs. 40,000/- can be drawn and provided to the concerned Court.

However, such benefits are unavailable to accused persons under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, NDPS, or Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Further, if the prisoner is acquitted/convicted, the money will be returned to the government's account after the trial court's order.

“If the bail amount is higher than Rs. 40,000/-, Secretary, DLSA may exercise discretion to pay such amount and make a recommendation to the Empowered Committee. Secretary, DLSA may also engage with legal aid advocate with a plea to have the surety amount reduced. For any amount over and above Rs. 40,000/-, the proposal may be approved by the State level Oversight Committee.,” the SOP added.

SOP For Convicted Prisoners

Under this head, if a convicted person is unable to get released from jail due to non-payment of a fine amount, then the jail SP is required to inform DLSA. The timeline prescribed for this is seven days.

DLSA would, in turn, enquire about the prisoner's financial condition. Again, this has to be done within seven days. Accordingly, if required, the Empowered Committee will sanction the release of the fine amount up to Rs. 25,000/-. Following this, the fine amount will be deposited in the Court. However, for any amount above the mentioned amount, the proposal may be approved by the state-level Oversight Committee.

Other reports on this order can be read here.

Click here to read the order