Shillong jail over-crowded with inmates

 Shillong | June 14  : Meghalaya's lackadaisical judicial system is manifested from the present 277 under trial prisoners (UTPs) in the Shillong district jail that housed 313 inmates. Although there are 20 odd convicts who are mostly involved in murder cases, the rest that includes hard core criminals, militants and petty criminals who have been languishing in the jail without proper trial for a period varying from two months to four years.
The overcrowded jail that housed these inmates is now stuffed up with prisoners that are beyond its capacity and all thanks go to the state judicial system and the police. During the interaction with the prisoners recently, the UTPs' frustration is clearly visible. A young UTP in the 20s told NNN, “I admitted of having burglary but six months is just too long for me to sit in the four walls”. Another youth accused of assaulting a police sub inspector also pleads saying, “I repent for the mistake but jail me as per the crime I have committed”.
Interestingly, these two prisoners who spoke to NNN on condition of anonymity said, “We have not been charge-sheeted till today and we can’t afford to jump bail because our parents are too poor to pay bonds”. Even a hard core criminal who is booked under the National Security Act (NSA) vouched for some of his inmates. These boys who are caught for minor cases will not reform if they are forced by circumstances to stay inside the jail.
"This jail is to reform people but nearly a year of detention for theft and burglary is more than what they deserved’, said, R Konwar. Konwar who is under detention for dacoity and murder even cited his other friends in the jail as people who could not get justice because the process of the trial is too slow. Maximum of those lodged in the jail said that their stay in the jail is frustrating especially when the police refused even to charge sheet them for the alleged crimes.
"I have been arrested from Darjeeling for a case of kidnapping, yet I languished here without knowing the content of the police allegations nor been given a chance to defend myself”, stated another criminal on condition of anonymity, adding, “Every time I am taken to court, I am simply made to appear and then send back to jail”. Most of these who spoke to NNN have similar complaints. Even the jail officials admitted that 80% of the inmates have been languishing in the jail without proper trial. Besides slow trials and lethargic police prosecution work, the absence of a fast tract court further congested the jail which is now housing double than its actual capacity.