Supreme Court declares detention of under-trial prisoners is Unconstitutional

Sabareesh Pillay | School of Law, University of Mumbai Thane Sub-Campus | 18th August 2020

Hussainara Khatoon Vs Home Secretary, State Of Bihar

FACTS:

In this case, a writ petition was filed in the state of Bihar regarding the case of under-trial prisoners kept in custody and whether they should be released or not. In Bihar there were a lot of under-trial prisoners who were kept in custody and their cases were being held up in the court for a long time, as a result even though they were not sentenced by the court yet they were still kept in custody as they were still under trials. This case was a landmark case the court said that speedy trial is the fundamental right of every accused person. 

RULES:

Under article 21 and 39A of the Indian Constitution.

ISSUE:

Whether the right to get speedy trial and Free Legal counsel is guaranteed in the constitution

CONTENTION:

It was argued that, in the 3 major jails across  Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh there a large majority of under trial accused persons who are being kept in jail and they have been produced time and time again in front of the magistrate and every time they are being remanded to custody. It was also contended by the state of Bihar that in more than 10% of the cases, due to the delay in reports of opinion by experts are being held up. The court was unsatisfied by both of the reasons and said that it unacceptable. The court said that the reasons do not comply with the direction of producing the dates on which the under-trial prisoners have been remanded and that the state can always build more laboratories and employ more experts.

OBSERVATION BY COURT:

The bench of Justice A. Desai and Justice N. Bhagwati observed that it is well known that under article 21 of the Indian constitution no person shall be deprived of his liberty and life except in terms of the procedure of law, in accordance of article 39A of the Indian constitution, free legal counsel and service should be compulsorily be provided to every under-trial accused and they should be treated in a fair and just manner. Further, the court said that the under-trial accused that have been in jail in for a long period of time, their trial should have been completed by no, and they should have been convicted. The court stressed on the importance of proper legal counsel for the under-trial because they are unaware of their rights most of the time and they don’t have the awareness and money to seek legal counsel on their own. Thus, their personal liberty is harmed and the judicial efficiency is called into question.

JUDGEMENT:

The court directed the State Governments to produce the under-trial prisoners who are charged with bailable offences to the magistrate and the total cases pending the high court regarding this matter should be dealt and disposed off within 6 months. The court also directed the release of several under-trial prisoners whose names and particulars were given in the list provided by Mrs. Hingorani as their detention is unconstitutional and violation of their fundamental right under article 21 of the Indian Constitution.  This was a landmark judgement as the Supreme Court stated that The State cannot deny the constitutional right to a speedy trial to the accused by pleading financial or administrative inability.