Topic: Under-trial

Father Stan Swamy, renowned tribal rights activist and human rights defender who was arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case last year under draconian UAPA, died on Monday.

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the bail granted in Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act - UAPA case by Kerala High court observing delay in the trial, violation of fundamental rights. Supreme Court bench has held that Section 43­D (5) of UAPA per­ se does not stop the ability of Constitutional Courts to grant bail.

Students rights activist Kanchan Nanaware, who was arrested in 2014 for her alleged Maoist links and had been awaiting trial for six years, succumbed to a heart and brain ailment in a hospital in Pune on Sunday.

The latest (2019) data on prisons released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that Dalits, tribals, and Muslims continue to be jailed in numbers disproportionate to their share in the total population of India, the Indian Express reported.

Human rights activists and politicians in Kashmir have accused the Narendra Modi Government of being "vengeful" as Covid-19 is surging in prisons in Kashmir, with many imprisoned without charge or trial testing positive, despite in other states prisoners released en mass to reduce the spread in overcrowded jails.

According to the report titled ‘Criminal Justice in the Shadow of Caste’, members of the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) are over-represented, in relation to their population, in India’s prisons.