In a petition filed by 122 under-trial prisoners voicing several grievances Advocate C.S. Dias, who was appointed by this Court as Amicus Curiae, brought to the notice of this Court that there are huge number of under-trial prisoners languishing in different jails in the State, undergoing detention for more than even the maximum period of sentence prescribed for the offence or offences alleged against them. It was also submitted that this was mainly due to non-production of such prisoners in court for want of sufficient police escort.

2. Sensing the immediate need for an urgent intervention at the hands of this Court, a direction was issued to the Director General of Police (Prisons) to file a statement whether there are any such prisoners in the jails. A shocking statement dated 20.9.2006 was filed by the D.G.P. (Prisons), in response to the direction of this Court. The statement revealed that there are as many as 109 under-trial prisoners in the various jails of Kerala who suffer detention for more than half of or the maximum period of imprisonment which they have to undergo for the respective offences alleged against them. (The number, indeed, is alarming). The names