Indians in jail: Undertrials up by 30 pc, convicts down by 15 pc since 2015

The number of Indian undertrials lodged in the country’s jails since 2015 has increased by over 30 per cent while that of convicts has reduced by 15 per cent, NCRB data showed.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s annual ‘Prison Statistics India 2020’, the number of Indian prison inmates in the country stood at 4.83 lakh by the end of 2020.

In 2015, there were 4.13 lakh prisoners across the country. This number swelled to 4.26 lakh in 2016, 4.45 lakh in 2017, 4.61 lakh in 2018, 4.76 lakh in 2019 and 4.83 lakh in 2020, the data showed.

“The number of Indian inmates in the prisons has increased by 17.1 per cent in 2020 over 2015 (status as on December 31 of respective years). Among these inmates, the number of under-trials and detenues has increased by 31.3 per cent and 40.6 per cent, respectively, and convicts have decreased by 15.5 per cent as on December 31, 2020, over 2015,” the NCRB noted.

Besides Indian prisoners, there were 4,926 prisoners of foreign origin lodged across jails in the country by the end of 2020, it said.

Among states, Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of inmates (1.06 lakh) followed by Bihar (51,849) and Madhya Pradesh (45,456), accounting for 22.1 per cent, 10.7 per cent, 9.4 per cent of the total inmates, respectively, it stated.

Uttar Pradesh also lodged the highest number of convicted prisoners (26,607) followed by Madhya Pradesh (13,641) and Bihar (7,730) accounting for 23.9 per cent, 12.2 per cent, 6.9 per cent of the total convicts, respectively, according to the NCRB, which functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.