Chitleen K Sethi
Chandigarh, February 3 2009
For thousands of convicts lodged in various jails in Punjab and Haryana, the long wait for the outcome of their appeals pending in various higher courts might just outlive their sentence, if not them.
Information gathered from these jails under the Right To Information Act has brought forth an alarming number of cases where convicts are languishing in jails with their appeals for acquittal pending. Some of these convicts are almost through with their sentence while most others have been in jail for over five years. Others have completed more than half of their sentence period.
Harjinder Singh, presently lodged in Central Jail, Bathinda, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, and he has already spent over six years behind the bars. While his appeal is pending to be heard, he is due to be released on September 25.
Another inmate Harphool Singh, too, has completed over eight years of his 10-year sentence. In the same jail, Jaswant Singh and Chanan Singh have completed over seven years of their 10-year term. The jail has 26 life convicts, including those sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Appeals filed by many of them are pending in the High Court.
The situation is even worse at Hoshiarpur district jail where 37 of the 55 convicts facing imprisonment for six years and above, including one with a life term, are awaiting their appeals to be taken up from the last about five years. For some, the period is more than half of their sentence.
“The question that looms large over our criminal justice system is how will the state compensate those languishing in jails if some of the convicts are acquitted by the higher courts?” asks advocate HC Arora, who gathered the information under the RTI Act.
Gopi, a female convict languishing in Borstal jail, Haryana, for over four years was sentenced to five-year imprisonment and her appeal is pending in the court of sessions judge, Gurgaon. Her jail-mate Veena was sentenced to eight years and has been there for four-and-a-half years while her appeal is pending in the High Court. Vidhya, another inmate, was sentenced to seven years and has completed more than half of her sentence. Of the total 51 female convicts here, 37 have their appeals pending, some for even over eight years.
The true picture of the appalling situation was revealed in November 2007 when Justice KS Grewal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court was deciding an appeal filed by a convict, Mohinder Singh. Grewal was apprised during the hearing that the appellant had already died. The appeal was taken up four years after Mohinder’s death and he had completed his term before he passed away.
Then, Justice Grewal had asked Punjab, Haryana and UT to prepare a data of all the persons convicted by courts under their territory and whose appeals were pending in the High Court so that priority be given to those convicts. But, the three governments reportedly expressed their helplessness in doing so.
Arora points out that while there is no legislation enacted by the Indian government for giving compensation to persons erroneously convicted by trial courts, India had acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, which provides for compensation to the convict in case of miscarriage of justice.
Source:- http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090204/main8.htm
For thousands of convicts lodged in various jails in Punjab and Haryana, the long wait for the outcome of their appeals pending in various higher courts might just outlive their sentence, if not them.
Information gathered from these jails under the Right To Information Act has brought forth an alarming number of cases where convicts are languishing in jails with their appeals for acquittal pending. Some of these convicts are almost through with their sentence while most others have been in jail for over five years. Others have completed more than half of their sentence period.
Harjinder Singh, presently lodged in Central Jail, Bathinda, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, and he has already spent over six years behind the bars. While his appeal is pending to be heard, he is due to be released on September 25.
Another inmate Harphool Singh, too, has completed over eight years of his 10-year sentence. In the same jail, Jaswant Singh and Chanan Singh have completed over seven years of their 10-year term. The jail has 26 life convicts, including those sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Appeals filed by many of them are pending in the High Court.
The situation is even worse at Hoshiarpur district jail where 37 of the 55 convicts facing imprisonment for six years and above, including one with a life term, are awaiting their appeals to be taken up from the last about five years. For some, the period is more than half of their sentence.
“The question that looms large over our criminal justice system is how will the state compensate those languishing in jails if some of the convicts are acquitted by the higher courts?” asks advocate HC Arora, who gathered the information under the RTI Act.
Gopi, a female convict languishing in Borstal jail, Haryana, for over four years was sentenced to five-year imprisonment and her appeal is pending in the court of sessions judge, Gurgaon. Her jail-mate Veena was sentenced to eight years and has been there for four-and-a-half years while her appeal is pending in the High Court. Vidhya, another inmate, was sentenced to seven years and has completed more than half of her sentence. Of the total 51 female convicts here, 37 have their appeals pending, some for even over eight years.
The true picture of the appalling situation was revealed in November 2007 when Justice KS Grewal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court was deciding an appeal filed by a convict, Mohinder Singh. Grewal was apprised during the hearing that the appellant had already died. The appeal was taken up four years after Mohinder’s death and he had completed his term before he passed away.
Then, Justice Grewal had asked Punjab, Haryana and UT to prepare a data of all the persons convicted by courts under their territory and whose appeals were pending in the High Court so that priority be given to those convicts. But, the three governments reportedly expressed their helplessness in doing so.
Arora points out that while there is no legislation enacted by the Indian government for giving compensation to persons erroneously convicted by trial courts, India had acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, which provides for compensation to the convict in case of miscarriage of justice.
Source:- http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090204/main8.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment