With 14.4 judges per million people, undertrials at historic high

The pendency debate between Law Minister Rijiju and CJI Ramana might come down to judicial vacancies

The number of people languishing in the country’s prisons while undergoing trials rose 26 per cent between 2016 and 2020 to touch 371,848 — taking up 90 per cent of the total prison capacity of 414,033. A quarter of these have been behind bars for at least a year. The year 2020 is the latest for which the number of undertrials is available.
 

The number of undertrials is at a historic high and comes at a time when vacancies in the judiciary — across the lower courts, high courts, and the Supreme Court — remain high, leaving the