“So my father was sent to jail, while a rich man from our village who belongs to an upper caste and is behind that murder is roaming free,” Suraj said, leaning against a wooden pillar within the High Court compound, where he has become a regular. There are tens of thousands of prisoners like Suraj’s father in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where at least 70 percent of the state’s 84,228 inmates have languished in jail because they cannot afford to pay bail while their cases take years or even decades to wend through India’s notoriously slow and backlogged judicial system, according to the state’s Jail Ministry. Most prisoners awaiting trial are poor minorities with little understanding of judicial procedure, Raghuvanshi said. The police are under pressure to solve criminal cases, so they arrest the poor because they know they are not in a position to contest. The jails and prisons of Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s poorest and most populous states, are some of country’s most overcrowded, with an occupancy rate of 172 percent compared with the nationwide rate of 112 percent, according to jail administration official R.K.

Topics:  high court   suraj s   jail   ministry   raghuvanshi   r.k    dwivedi   suraj   uttar pradesh   india s   bail   poor   years   percent   state   prisoners   judicial   rate   father   cases   

 

Welcome to Wopular!

Welcome to Wopular

Wopular is an online newspaper rack, giving you a summary view of the top headlines from the top news sites.

Senh Duong (Founder)
Wopular, MWB, RottenTomatoes

Subscribe to Wopular's RSS Fan Wopular on Facebook Follow Wopular on Twitter Follow Wopular on Google Plus

MoviesWithButter : Our Sister Site

More World News