Around three-fourth of all prison inmates in India in 2023 were undertrials, according to the latest report released by NCRB. The numbers are staggering: India has 5.3 lakh people in jail; of them, 3.9 lakh are yet to be convicted — they are on trial. But this is actually an improvement over the previous years. The percentage of incarcerated undertrials in 2021 was 77%. This fell to 76% in 2022, and then to 74% in 2023. Of these undertrials, 150 died while in jail; 64% of them were suicides.

The share of undertrials in jail keeps fluctuating, but an analysis of the data for the past 25 years shows it has never dropped below 65%. Several studies have suggested that delays in investigation, shortage of judges, and lack of access to legal aid because of poverty are the main reasons why u

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