The 2025 India Justice Report discovered that 42 % of all undertrial prisoners in India got here from simply three states—Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra. Bihar has the second-highest quantity of prisoners within the nation. A disproportionately giant quantity—roughly 66 %—are from marginalised backgrounds.
Since 2019, our nonprofit LAW Basis has been offering socio-legal help, rehabilitation assist, and reintegration companies to the marginalised and traditionally deprived custodial inhabitants of Bihar. We prioritise prisoners who’ve been incarcerated for a very long time, have been granted bail however can not afford the surety bail bond, are unable to rent an advocate, and/or have been wrongfully imprisoned.
By way of our work, we see first-hand how the present legal justice system disproportionally impacts marginalised communities.
1. A system entrenched in caste-based violence and prejudice
Bihar has a historical past of systemic caste-based violence. We’re at the moment working in Patna and Jehanabad districts, consciously specializing in areas the place such violence is most acute.
We’ve witnessed how the hierarchies of life in jail mirror these within the exterior world. Structural inequalities of caste, class, and gender, which exist in society, are replicated throughout the jail system.
That is evident from one in all our present instances. A 16-year-old boy from a marginalised group was arrested for allegedly stealing a motorbike. The police beat him severely earlier than taking him to the station. Though the station had 16 CCTV cameras, he was intentionally stored in a room with none surveillance.
Caste and energy function inside India’s legal justice system by means of acts of violence, institutional complicity, worry, and denial.
When he was lastly produced earlier than the Juvenile Justice Board, the principal Justice of the Peace issued a disciplinary motion towards accountable officers, all of whom belonged to the identical dominant caste. The officers claimed the boy was a recurring offender and never a juvenile. When the case reached the Chief Judicial Justice of the Peace (CJM), no lawyer represented the boy due to deep, pervasive casteism. We’re offering authorized help to him however had been requested by many in energy—together with judges and the police—not to take action.
That is a mirrored image of how caste and energy function inside India’s legal justice system—by means of acts of violence, institutional complicity, worry, and denial.
To interrupt this cycle, higher illustration of marginalised communities in each the bar and the bench—that’s, amongst attorneys and judges—is crucial for actual entry to justice. We actively rent advocates from these communities, who usually lack alternatives to practise. Courtrooms throughout India, particularly on the district degree, are overwhelmingly male and upper-caste, with excessive illustration from socially dominant teams. When these tasked with decoding the legislation don’t come from the communities most affected by systemic injustice, authorized processes stay skewed and unjust.
2. Wrongful incarceration because of prejudice
As soon as somebody from a marginalised background is arrested, they’re usually named as the accused not simply in one case however in a number of open FIRs of an analogous nature. Even if they could have dedicated one theft, they’re implicated in 4 or 5 different incidents without any proof, as a result of the police need to shut open investigations to indicate they’ve solved crimes.
Deep-seated caste bias makes it simple to accuse Dalits, Adivasis, and different marginalised caste teams–typically as a result of they could have dedicated a petty offence, or just because they occurred to be close to the scene of against the law or offence. At occasions, the arrest is made on much more arbitrary grounds. In one occasion, a rickshaw-puller was picked up whereas sleeping at a railway station and falsely accused in a case that had occurred removed from the place he was.
This traps these accused in a vicious cycle. They now must defend themselves in a number of courts, for a number of instances, usually in several places. Many occasions, district courts deny bail in such issues, particularly when there are a number of FIRs, forcing households to method the Excessive Court docket. However the price of submitting for bail within the Excessive Court docket is considerably increased, which additional deters them from approaching the court docket.
In our expertise, even if the paperwork for bail is full, the Patna Excessive Court docket is so burdened with pending instances that it might take greater than a month for the bail software to be listed. This implies even when the accused is harmless and has not been convicted, they need to stay in jail for weeks or months.
They find yourself spending extra time in jail than the sentence they might have served if truly convicted. After months or years in jail, many expertise psychological trauma that forces them to confess to crimes they didn’t commit.
3. A dearth of high quality authorized practitioners on the district degree
There’s a standard delusion that justice is finally delivered by the Excessive Courts or the Supreme Court docket. However for marginalised communities, the true struggle for justice performs out in district courts. The Excessive Court docket doesn’t conduct trials; it primarily hears appeals and bail petitions. Your complete course of—bail listening to, cost framing, trial, and conviction—takes place within the decrease courts. Yet these courts stay under-resourced and under-recognised.
Consequently, there’s an absence of motivated, expert advocates on the district degree. Most advocates need to practise in the increased courts, that means that instances drag on for 10 or 15 years, even for minor theft fees.
We constantly meet convicted prisoners from marginalised identities who’ve by no means thought of interesting in increased courts. This isn’t as a result of they’re responsible, however as a result of the thought of accessing increased courts feels unattainable to them as they lack each the financial sources and the social capital to take action.
Accredited legislation establishments should make it obligatory for his or her graduates to practise in district court dockets for at least three to 5 years. Despite receiving one of the best training, many younger attorneys battle to practise successfully at this degree as a result of they’ve little understanding of the bottom realities of district courts.
4. Processes that contain households are robust to navigate
A minor formality in securing bail in India’s courts is the requirement of an affidavit, sometimes from an in depth relative, however this turns into a serious barrier for a lot of.
In quite a lot of instances, the accused’s household can’t be traced, or they aren’t keen to step ahead. They’re terrified of the police, and the authorized course of is unfamiliar. If the accused is the top of the household, their absence places the family in an economically precarious place. If they’re a migrant, they could not possess the required paperwork. Our social employees help households in navigating the authorized course of and assembly their incarcerated kin.
Nonetheless, many accused people are both with out households or have been deserted. In a single such case, a person employed as a sanitation employee was wrongfully accused as a result of he was discovered drunk close to against the law scene. He had a brother who couldn’t be traced, which meant he stayed in jail for 3 to 4 years with out trial. We’ve submitted an affidavit on his behalf, however since we aren’t household, the method is gradual and tedious and it might take a very long time for the court docket to acknowledge it. The authorized system doesn’t have a framework for such exceptions—it’s not constructed to accommodate these with out assist.
For transgender people, the system is much more exclusionary. Their households usually don’t settle for them and will lower ties. Often one other trans particular person or a buddy is keen to submit the affidavit for them. However as a result of the courts don’t legally recognise such relationships, their affidavits are additionally not accepted at occasions.
5. Securing bail is a big barrier
In Bihar, the normal system of bail is essentially primarily based on surety bonds, whereby an individual looking for bail should furnish paperwork displaying land possession or car registration. There is no such thing as a observe of money bail bonds. This creates difficulties for these with none such belongings.
As an answer, we began leveraging the system of Private Recognisance (PR) Bail. A PR bond permits the accused to be launched on the premise of a private endeavor to seem for all court docket hearings, as an alternative of furnishing property or cash as surety.
Our social employees play a significant position on this course of. Many undertrial prisoners don’t have simply reachable relations. Even when households might be situated, they’re regularly too economically or socially weak to return ahead. To bridge this hole, we go to the prisoner’s residence, doc their socio-economic standing, and acquire images as proof.
This info is then included in a petition to the court docket, the place we argue that, as a result of household’s incapability to supply surety, the accused ought to be launched on a PR bond. If the court docket accepts the petition, the particular person is granted bail. But when the court docket rejects it, we escalate the matter to the district choose and, if essential, to the Excessive Court docket.
If an advocate doesn’t take the case critically, they could not comply with these steps. The inmates often lack each consciousness of their choices and the means or data to pursue a number of appeals. The mixture of PR bail bond and robust authorized help makes all the distinction in guaranteeing entry to justice.
6. Bail is momentary; trial is everlasting reduction
Whereas securing bail gives momentary reduction for the accused, true reduction comes solely by means of trial and acquittal. Take the instance of somebody charged with theft, the place the utmost punishment is three years. If an individual has already spent two and a half years in jail as an undertrial, furnishing bail at that stage delivers little reduction.
After being granted bail, an particular person should seem in court docket on each listening to date. For individuals from marginalised communities, every court docket look means journey bills, lack of each day wages or livelihood, and an incapability emigrate for work. Lacking even a single listening to may end up in their bail being revoked, sending them again to jail.
Due to this fact, facilitating well timed trials is crucial, particularly when the accused is near finishing the most sentence. In such instances, bail usually imposes an extra burden, whereas systemic delays, resembling absent witnesses or failure to border fees, drag proceedings on for years. A trial, then, gives decision for the accused. If they’re acquitted, it restores their dignity and saves them from a everlasting legal document.
Reimagining free authorized help companies
By legislation, each particular person is presumed harmless till confirmed responsible. But in observe, the system usually doesn’t comply with this precept. We make a aware effort to grasp the accused when the system doesn’t stand by them. In Bihar, as an illustration, the language can change each 50 kilometres. In a single case, a girl remained in jail merely as a result of nobody took the time to grasp what she was saying. After we enlisted the assistance of a social employee who spoke this girl’s language, we discovered that her statements had been legitimate and correct and had been capable of safe her bail utilizing that info.
When individuals know the legislation, they will use it to push again towards abuse and resist management.
To actually enhance entry to justice, authorized help should additionally embrace authorized literacy and consciousness programmes—particularly inside jails and in communities regularly focused by the police. In a single occasion, a youngster used what he had discovered from our session in jail to tell his household that he was eligible for defense underneath the Juvenile Justice Act, which led to a well timed intervention. In one other case, a woman from a Musahar tola stood her floor throughout a police raid and stopped the officers from coming into her residence by citing the legislation that requires a feminine officer to be current. The police haven’t returned since.
Each citizen is entitled to free authorized help underneath Article 39(A) of the Indian Structure, and no particular person might be disadvantaged of this proper. Due to this fact, state governments have to concentrate on addressing the challenges that hinder the efficient implementation of the idea and goals of free authorized companies, particularly on the district and taluka ranges.
However these rights are sometimes intentionally stored from marginalised communities—as a result of when individuals know the legislation, they will use it to push again towards abuse and resist management. For this reason our work goes past litigation. To make sure entry to justice, individuals must be made conscious of their rights.
Shalini, Anand, Ranjan, Khalid, and Gaurav contributed to this text.
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