EARLY ACCESS TO LEGAL AID

IF EARLY ACCESS IS NOT THERE

The police beat me up and

produced me in court after 4

days

I was not granted bail even though I

committed a bailable offence

My family knows nothing about my arrest

No medical Examination

wasConducted on

me

The Magistrate did not even look at me and sent me to judicial

custody

I am only 10 years of

age

EXPERIENCES

IMPACT OF EARLY ACCESS • In 2006, interviewed 345 under-trials detained in a prison

in Rajasthan

• 5 % had access to lawyer at the time of arrest

• 31% had access to lawyer at the time of production before magistrate

• Corresponds to the total percentage of persons (36.6%) who were produced before magistrate within 24 hours of arrest in compliance of constitutional & statutory mandate

Early access ensures protection of individuals fair trial rights

Name : Biswanath Dutta s/o Ranjit Dutta Incident date: 13 November 2012 Incident: Biswanath Dutta, who suffers from mild

dementia and speech impairment was arrested by the railway police for wrongfully boarding a ladies’ compartment of a local train. He did not have a lawyer at the time of his production

Consequences: He was detained for twelve days at the Presidency Jail Due to his dementia he could not tell his address or contact

number Police, magistrate or prison officers made no attempts to

locate his family who could thus not be informed of his arrest and place of detention

He suffered abuse by fellow inmates in jail He could be located by his family members only after 12

days – after they filed missing persons report

INCIDENTS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTEDVICTIMISATION OF A MENTALLY DISABLED PERSONS

Name : Baby Paul w/o Ranjit Paul Incident: Baby Paul was arrested in 2010 along

with her husband, mother and father as an accessory for murder and cruelty to her sister-in-law. She had a year old daughter at the time of her arrest. As everyone in the family was in prison, there was no one left to look after her daughter. She did not have a lawyer.

Consequences: Even though a child is permitted to stay with her

mother till 6 years of age, her daughter had to spend 2 years without proper care and attention

Only after CHRI intervened and got a legal aid counsel appointed for her, that she was finally permitted to stay with her mother

INCIDENTS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTEDVIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF MOTHER AND CHILD

Rule of Law: All cases where an accused seems to be less than 18 years of age must be transferred to the juvenile justice board

Incident: In two separate petitions filed in Delhi & Kolkata High Court it was found that more than a 100 accused persons were found to be less than 18 years of age at the time of commission of offence. Due to lack of a lawyer at the time of production, these accused persons were sent to adult prison without proper investigation into their age.

Consequences: In some cases, these children had to spend more

than 3 years as under-trials in jail whereas the maximum punishment under the Juvenile Justice Act is 3 years.

INCIDENTS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTEDVICTIMISATION OF CHILD IN CONFLICT WITH LAW

Thank you!

MADHURIMA DHANUKA

Consultant - Prison Reforms Programme

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

Behind Bars Not Beyond Justice