Note:

Proposal: To release all women prisoners on the occasion of the year of women�s empowerment.

1] There are nearly 10000 women prisoners (8645, out of which only 1873 are convicts, others are under trial�1999 NCRB data) in the country. With the population of 100 crores, their ratio comes to about 100 per crore, or 0.0001 %. An utterly negligible number. The socity can very well afford/handle a situation where they don�t have to be necessarily kept behind the stone walls of the prison.

2] Keeping the women in jails shatters the family much beyond redemption. Women are not just �a member of the family� but generally provide an anchor to the family and their absence due to imprisonment results in a greater loss to the family.

3] Nearly half of the women prisoners are under trial, theoretically, NON-GUILTY, till proved otherwise in a trial. Yet their freedom is lost, their time, energy and all rights are suspended and they get almost the same treatment as the convicted women.

3] When a man returns from jail he still retains some acceptability in the family as well as in the society. When woman returns home from jail, her acceptability is practically zero. Thus her years of punishment are much more than the �de juro� punishment. Unfortunately, her entire old age security depends on rebuilding this acceptability to whatever extent possible. Thus, by putting women in prison the society is choosing either an increased problem of old- age rehabilitation or increased insensitivity to women�s plight.

4] If not for others, there is a strong case for releasing at least those women who have crossed the age of 50 years, so that there is some hope of their proper rehabilitation in the society.

5] The women in jails can be divided into 4 categories:

• Those under Section 498 of Dowry Prohibition Act. These are generally mothers-in� -law or other women relatives of a woman who has undergone harassments for dowry. The offense is non -bailable. About 40% women in prisons are there for this reason.
• Those under a charge of dealing with narcotics. These are generally foreigners and occasionally Indian accomplices.
• Those charged as an accomplice of the terrorists.
• All other categories. These are mostly economically backward so that no family member or Voluntary Organisation would come forward for their �bail�, or guarantee. They are petty offenders, often serving a term of imprisonment much beyond the due punishment (if proved guilty) because the trials are delayed. What do we, as a society, achieve by putting them in prisons?

6] Generally, no data base is maintained/analysed at a higher level in respect of women prisoners. Following proforma was suggested by me to the Suptd. of Arthur Road jail, Mumbai.

�

S.N.

Dt of admission

NAME

SURNAME

VILLAGE

DISTRICT

IPC SECs

Dt of 1st hearing

Dt of shifting elsewhere

Dt of case disposal

 

A data -base created by using Excel software can be used for quite a long term analysis and policy making. It can also be a useful tool in reducing the pendency of under- trial cases.

 

There are 2 alternatives/actions that can be tried by the dept.

• As a one- time measure release all women presently in jail. This will have a symbolic value. The number of women prisoners will rise in due course till another similar step is taken. However, the law dept. will have to be consulted on the question of non-bailable nature of sec 498. One way out is to bring the accused under The Probation of Offender�s Act and make the crime bailable at the discretion of a two -member team in which one member must necessarily belong to the family of the victim. Similarly a different view will be needed for women prisoners (either under trial or convicted) of the 2^nd and 3^rd category.
• Alternatively, leave out the under trials; release all women prisoners serving their sentence.

Some additional points also deserve consideration:

• The Cr.P.C. prescribes that bail should be granted to all women under trials as easily as possible. However, for reasons of poverty no bail is asked for. The Cr. P.C. needs to be amended to substitute �bail� by personal undertaking for �attendance on the date of hearing�. (This is easily possible when the �home� of the lady is well known.)
• The Law Ministry can institutinalise following arrangement: A team consisting of� a judge, a sociologist and an academician from a law-college can visit the prison once a month and withdraw/drop the cases (as sympathetically as possible) Only the recorded statement of the accused should be considered sufficient.� Some modality similar to that of a small causes court can be considered.
• The courts may be encouraged to suspend the punishment even after holding guilty and prescribing a punishment.
• Arrange with NCRB the compilation and publication of reports on Women in Jail on a yearly basis, as per the proforma suggested above.
• Facilitate voluntary organizations to come forward for �concelling women prisoners and their families for the rehabilitation of women prisoners.
• Review the� effectiveness of the prescribed visits of the Probation Officers and also the D.M.s to the jail.