FREEDOM BEFORE VERDICT: LIMITS ON UNDERTRIAL DETENTION IN INDIA

According to the 2024 report by the National Crime Records Bureau , the undertrial population stood at 72.6% out of the total of 5,11,542 inmates in prisons across India. Despite the existence of the provisions in the constitution that ensure presumption of innocence and speedy trial, the country has been unable to jail the undertrial prisoners because there is a statutory limit on detention since 2005 being ignored. The present paper seeks to discuss the reasons behind the continuance of practice of undertrial detention and tries to analyse if Section 479 of BNSS succeeds in improving on Section 436A of the CrPC. The methodology followed is doctrinal where different provisions of laws, statutes, judgments of the Supreme Court, and reports published have been reviewed. The findings indicate that failure lies in implementation of laws. The research argues that Section 479 seeks to shift responsibility onto the jail authorities, which however only results in creation of more exceptions, and just 627 undertrials got released under it as of the year 2024.