How Long Is Too Long for an Undertrial Prisoner To Be Detained?
The Wire / by Hany Babu and Surendra Gadling
If after conviction, the term of one’s sentence can be commuted to its one-third at the executive’s will, we propose that the same formula can be adopted in fixing the maximum period for which an undertrial prisoner can be detained.
Originally published on The Proof of Guilt blog, this post was written by Hany Babu and Surendra Gadling, who have been detained in prison as ‘undertrials’ since 2018 and 2020 respectively. This piece was published simultaneously with the Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy blog.
Dedicated to the fellow undertrial prisoners languishing in the prisons of India with the hope that the system would sooner than later wake up to their plight; and that one day prisons, if not still obsolete, would at least have become places where those proven guilty are held, and not places that incarcerate those who are presumed to be innocent.
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