The India Justice Report, 2025, notes that more than half the jails in India are overcrowded, with nearly 176 prisons housing as many inmates as four times their sanctioned capacity. This is exacerbated by the fact that undertrials constitute 75 percent of the prison population (with several having served more time in jail without trial than the maximum period of imprisonment they may have had to serve). Prison overcrowding in India is truly the story of overwhelming systemic apathy
It is true that administrative and judicial scrutiny have often sought to tackle this challenge to justice. Recently, the Union Home Ministry urged states and Union territories to avail funds from the 'Support to Poor Prisoners Scheme' launched in 2023, intended for prisoners who have been unable to secure bail due to financial constraints. The Ministry has also insisted on the implementation of Section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (‘BNSS’), which prescribes bail for undertrials upon completing half of the maximum period of imprisonment provided for the offences concerned.
The retrospective application of this provision guided the Supreme Court’s early release of first-time undertrials in a suo motu petition on decongesting overcrowded jails. In a similar vein, the Court has also directed the preparation of action plans to identify and decongest prisons where occupancy exceeds 150%.
One of the foremost impediments to decongesting Indian prisons is the excessive use of arrest powers.
delays in the completion of investigations and the commencement of trials, coupled with excessive pendency, result in lengthy incarceration periods before an accused is even heard.
the executive and judicial apathy is compounded by a prevailing retributive spirit in the society, with arrests and ‘strict’ punishments often cited as a quick-fix for all crime in our society.
The most natural solution to the current plight is to minimise arrests to only the most essential cases, when other methods to secure a person’s presence for investigation fail.
by Tanishka Goswami, Shikhar Aggarwal
11/06/2025