The Supreme Court has directed to fast-track the premature release of undertrials and first-time offenders who have completed half or one-third of their maximum sentence under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita-2023’s section 479, which relates to the “maximum period for which undertrial prisoner can be detained”.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta on Friday directed the implementation of the Section 479 of the BNSS which would apply retrospectively to undertrials across the country. The top court also ordered the superintendents of jails across the country to process the applications of the eligible undertrials within three months.
“We direct implementation of Section 479 BNSS by calling upon superintendents of jails across countries to process the pleas of the undertrials when they comply with the proviso of this provision. These steps shall be taken as expeditiously as possible, preferably within 3 months,” the Supreme Court said.
However, the provision is not applicable to undertrials accused of heinous offences for which the punishment is death or life sentence.
The bench was hearing a plea regarding the overcrowding of prisons.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that the new criminal laws — the BNSS, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — would apply even to cases lodged before its implementation on July 1, 2024.
The top court has been actively monitoring the issue of prison overcrowding since October 2021, when it took suo motu cognisance of the problem.
The BNSS, the BNS and the BSA came into effect on July 1, 2024, replacing the British-era Code of Criminal Procedure, Indian Penal Code, and Indian Evidence Act, respectively.
(With inputs from PTI)
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