DGP Says About 40 % of Kerala Prisoners not Guilty

19 November 2013
Kochi

Asked about if how many people in Kerala Prisons are innoncents from Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services replied that about 40% of the inmates are not guilty of any crime. Alexander Jacob The Director General Said in kannur that about 20 per cent of the inmates were innocent.

The State Public Information Officer of Prisons and Correctional Services, Joy Sebastina Pushpam, however, said the actual figure was 40 per cent.“The DGP is a man of few words and he kept restraint in revealing the whole picture. He limited the percentage at 20 to keep restraint. The actual figure is 40 per cent,” the reply issued by him says.

Many innocent people have landed behind bars because circumstantial evidence turned against them, it says. Another significant section of innocent prisoners are volunteers recruited by political parties and other organisations to undergo jail term on behalf of the culprits.

D.B. Binu of the Kochi-based Human Rights Defence Forum used the RTI Act to get clarity on the statement made by Mr. Jacob when addressing a meeting organised in Kannur by a cultural organisation, Alaap, to distribute prizes to winners in a literary competition for inmates.

“Twenty per cent of the jail inmates have committed no crime. Lack of proper legal aid, along with strong circumstantial evidence, has landed them behind bars. There are many who opt for a jail term on the dictates of political parties which want the real culprits to go scot-free,” Mr. Jacob said at the meeting.

Source– http://www.thehindu.com

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