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2024 Supreme(SC) 709

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
HIMA KOHLI, SANDEEP MEHTA, JJ.
IN RE-INHUMAN CONDITIONS IN 1382 PRISONS
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 406 of 2013
Decided On : 23-08-2024

Advocates appeared:
Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, Sr. Adv. (Amicus Curiae)
For the Respondent(s): Mrs. Aishwariya Bahti, A.S.G. Mr. R Bala, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mrs. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mrs. Shagun Thakur, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, Adv. Mrs. Neelakshi Bhadouria, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. R Bala, Sr. Adv. Mrs. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Ashok Panigrahi, Adv. Mr. B K Satija, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. Kartikay Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Kumar Pandey, Adv. Mr. Chitvan Singhal, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Singh, Adv. Mrs. Ameya Vikrama Thanvi, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv.
For the Arunachal Pradesh : Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv.
R-5 : Ms. Pragati Neekhra, AOR
Gujarat : Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, Adv. Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv. Ms. Neha Singh, Adv.
Goa : Mr. Surjendu Sankar Das, AOR Mr. Anand Murthi Rao, Adv.
Haryana : Mr. B.K. Satija, A.A.G. Mr. Samar Vijay Singh, AOR Mr. Keshav Mittal, Adv. Ms. Sabarni Som, Adv. Mr. Fateh Singh, Adv. Mr. T. N. Surendranath, Adv. Mr. Atul Arvind, Adv. Mr. Ritesh Kumar Gupta, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Garg, Adv.
R-9 : Mr. Parth Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Ms. Maitreyee Jagat Joshi, Adv. Mr. Astik Gupta, Adv.
Himachal Pradesh : Ms. Inderdeep Kaur Raina, Adv. Mr. Kartikeya Rastogi, Adv. Mr. Rishi Malhotra, AOR
Karnataka : Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR
Kerala : Mr. C. K. Sasi, AOR Ms. Meena K Poulose, Adv. Ms. Anupriya, Adv.
R-14 : Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR Mr. Bittu Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chhavi Verma, Adv.
Maharashtra : Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Ms. Preet S. Phanse, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Dubey, Adv.
Manipur : Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. R. Rajaselvan, Adv.
Meghalaya : Mr. Amit Kumar, Adv. General, Sr. Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.K. Nayak, Adv. Ms. Rekha Bakshi, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Mr. Upendra Mishra, Adv.* Mr. P.S. Negi, Adv.*
R-18 : Mr. Siddhesh Shirish Kotwal, AOR
Nagaland : Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv.
Odisha : Ms. Anindita Pujari, AOR
Punjab : Mr. Mohd Irshad, A.A.G. Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR
Rajasthan : Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR
Sikkim : Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Anand Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Simanta Kumar, Adv. Mr. Devvrat Singh, Adv. Mr. Maneesh Pathak, Adv. Mr. Jainendra Kumar, Adv.
Tamil Nadu : Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Ms. Devyani Gupta, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Adv. Mr. Naman Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. C Kranthi Kumar, Adv. Ms. Tanvi Anand, Adv. Ms. Saushria Havelia, Adv. Mr. Danish Saifi, Adv.
R-26 : Mr. Siddharth Sangal, AOR
U.P. : Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Adv. Mr. Suraj Singh, Adv. Mr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Adv.
West Bengal : Mr. Srisatya Mohanty, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. Shreyas Awasthi, Adv. Ms. Muskan Surana, Adv.
INT : Ms. Pallavi Langar, AOR Ms. Namita Choudhary, AOR Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, Adv.
Bihar : Mr. Samir Ali Khan, AOR Mr. Pranjal Sharma, Adv. Mr. Kashif Irshad Khan, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Jhamba, Adv.
IMPL : Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Ms. Yashmita Pandey, Adv. Mr. Rajendra Sahu, AOR Ms. Hema Sahu, Adv. Mr. Rishabh Sahu, Adv. Mr. C L Sahu, Adv. Dr. Vikas Pahal, Adv. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
Mizoram : Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Ms. Akshata Chhabra, Adv.
INT : Mr. Chandra Prakash, AOR
Jharkhand : Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, Sr.Adv, A.A.G. Mr. Shantanu Sagar, AOR Mr. Prabhat Ranjan Raj, Adv. Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Gunjesh Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Manoneet Dwivedi, Adv.
IMPL : Mr. Salvador Santosh Rebello, AOR Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Ms. Kritika, Adv. Mr. Prateek Tanmay, Adv. Ms. Pooja Gill, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. Mr. Kushagra Aman, Adv. Ms. Ayushi Bansal, Adv. Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Mrs. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Karol, Adv. Mr. Ameyvikrama Thanvi, Adv. Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Yadav, Adv. Mr. Keshav Singh, Adv.
Chhattisgarh : Mr. Abhishek Pandey, Adv. Mr. Prashant Kumar Umrao, AOR Mrs. Aishwariya Bahti, A.S.G. Mr. R Bala, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mrs. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mrs. Shagun Thakur, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, Adv. Mrs. Neelakshi Bhadouria, Adv.
UT OF A&N : Mr. K. M. Nataraj, A.S.G.(NP) Mrs. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mrs. Mrinal Elkar Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Singh Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. Vineet Singh, Adv.*
INT : Mr. Ajay Verma, Adv. Mr. Vaishnav Kirti Singh, Adv. Mr. Krishna Sharma, Adv. Mr. Durgesh Ramchandra Gupta, AOR Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR Ms. Devina Sehgal, AOR Mr. Dhananjay Yadav, Adv.

IMPORTANT POINT
Release of under-trial prisoners to ease overcrowding in jails – Substituted provision under BNSS is more beneficial vis-à-vis Section 436A of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Headnote:

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 – Section 479 [Section 436-A of Cr.P.C., 1973] – Release of under-trial prisoners to ease overcrowding in jails – Substituted provision under BNSS is more beneficial vis-à-vis Section 436A of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, wherein period undergone by first time offender was prescribed as up to half of maximum period of imprisonment specified for such an offence – It is deemed appropriate to direct immediate implementation of Section 479 of BNSS by calling upon Superintendents of Jails across the country wherever accused persons are detained as undertrials, to process their applications to concerned Courts upon their completion of one-half/one-third, as the case may be, of period mentioned in sub-section (1) of said provision, for their release on bail – This step will go a long way in easing overcrowding in jails – Directions issued. (Paras 2, 4, 5 and 6)

Facts of the case:

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 which has replaced Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 w.e.f. 01st July, 2024, contains a provision under Section 479 relating to Maximum period for which an undertrial prisoner can be detained. A first-time offender (who has never been convicted for any offence in the past) is required to be released on bond by Court, if he has undergone detention for period extending up to one-third of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for such an offence under a particular law.

Findings of Court:

Compliance of the aforesaid provisions shall be made by the concerned District & Session Judges in all States/UTs who are in-Charge of the Under Trial Review Committees so that there is no laxity in implementation of the aforesaid beneficial provision.

Result : Directions issued.

ORDER

1. This order is in continuation of the order passed on 13th August, 2024. On the last date of hearing, Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, learned Amicus Curiae had submitted that the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 20231 [For short ‘the BNSS’] , which has replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 w.e.f. 01st July, 2024, contains a provision under Section 479 relating to the ‘Maximum period for which an undertrial prisoner can be detained’. The attention of this Court was drawn to the first proviso to Section 479 to urge that a first-time offender (who has never been convicted for any offence in the past) is required to be released on bond by the Court, if he has undergone detention for the period extending up to one-third of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for such an offence under a particular law.

2. Having regard to the fact that the substituted provision under the BNSS is more beneficial vis-a-vis Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, wherein the period undergone by the first time offender was prescribed as up to half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for such an offence, this Court had called upon the learned Additional Solicitor General to obtain instructions from the Department and submit a clarification regarding application of the said provision to all undertrials across the country.

3. Today, Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, learned Additional Solicitor General, submits that pursuant to the aforesaid order, instructions have been obtained from the Department to the effect that the aforesaid provision under the BNSS shall apply to all undertrials in pending cases irrespective of whether the case was registered against them before 01st July, 2024, the date when the newly minted legislation has come into effect.

4. In that view of the matter, it is deemed appropriate to direct immediate implementation of Section 479 of the BNSS by calling upon Superintendents of Jails across the country wherever accused persons are detained as undertrials, to process their applications to the concerned Courts upon their completion of one-half/one-third, as the case may be, of the period mentioned in sub-section (1) of the said provision, for their release on bail. This step will go a long way in easing overcrowding in jails which is the primary focus of this Court in the present petition.

5. The aforesaid steps shall be taken as expeditiously as possible, preferably within two months from today. Reports shall be submitted by the Superintendent Jails to their respective Heads of the Department within the same time line for a comprehensive affidavit to be filed by each State Government/Union Territory through their respective Chief Secretaries. The affidavits shall furnish the details of the number of undertrials who would be entitled to extension of the benefit of Section 479 of the BNSS, the number of applications moved before the concerned Courts for their release and the number of undertrials actually released by the date of filing of the affidavits.

6. Compliance of the aforesaid provisions shall be made by the concerned District & Session Judges in all States/UTs who are in-Charge of the Under Trial Review Committees so that there is no laxity in implementation of the aforesaid beneficial provision.

7. List on the date already fixed, i.e. 22nd October, 2024, at the top of the Board.

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