With the Supreme Court judgment bringing focus to the plight of undertrials across the country, one of the key problems for nearly 9,000 of those languishing in prisons across Karnataka is to find a lawyer.
The Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA), constituted to provide free legal services to people from the weaker sections, appears to be reaching out to too few undertrial prisoners (UTPs), with only 1,174 provided aid in over 18 months.
This is despite there being 399 panel lawyers deputed by the KSLSA to visit prisons across the State. According to a directive from the Union Home Ministry, the authority is to take up cases of UTPs who have completed half the term for the offence they are charged with, and get them released under Section 436 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure to reduce overcrowding in prisons. However, data from February 2013 to July 2014 that is available with The Hindu , paints a dismal picture. For instance, in February, 2013, only eight UTPs across the State were provided legal aid, and in May this year it was only six.
There is no uniformity in the staff strength of panel lawyers in the District Legal Service Authorities (DSLAs) across the State either. For instance, Yadgir district does not have a single panel lawyer deputed to visit prisons, whereas Belgaum has 43.
Only in four months did the figure exceed 100. It exceeded 200 only in March this year, when 254 UTPs were given legal aid. According to Ashok Nijagannavar, member secretary, KSLSA, the panel layers are being paid a “reasonable” amount of Rs. 500 per jail visit.
“Since legal aid is service oriented, we need committed lawyers,” he said.
He said prison authorities were requested to maintain a separate register for panel lawyers to ascertain if they have met prisoners.
A panel lawyer, however, told The Hindu , on the condition of anonymity, that the amount of Rs. 500 was adequate. The lawyer said the problem, however, was that most panel lawyers deputed to visit prisons take up other cases as the prison is far away.
Divya Iyer of Amnesty International India argues that as per the Bangalore Central Prison data that was shared with them, out of 11 the lawyers nominated by the Bangalore Urban District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) in January 2012 to provide legal aid in prison, five had not even visited the prison even once in two-and-a-half years. The other six had visited the prison only once or twice. Of the lawyers nominated by the Bangalore Rural DLSA in March 2013, three visited the prison only once or twice in 2013.”
