KATHMANDU, Nov 5: Ram Hari Pandey (name changed due to privacy) has been sentenced like other prisoners in Central Jail Sundhara since February 23, 2016, on charges of homicide. The hearing of his case has not been done even though there is a legal provision of 20 years of imprisonment.
He has spent eight years in prison due to the delay in the court's verdict, and he is confused and worried about how much more time he has to serve in prison.
Like him, Aakash Bahadur Tamang (name changed) has been detained in the Central Jail since April 17, 2014 on charges of drug smuggling. He has spent nine and a half years as a prisoner in the prison awaiting the court's decision. Although there is a legal provision for 12 years in the case, almost a decade has passed in waiting for the verdict.
There are 90 detainees who have spent more than six years as prisoners in the Central Jail on charges of various cases. They are spending a long time in prison on the charges of murder, drugs, kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion and other cases.
According to the Central Jail, there are 125 detainees whose cases have not been decided even after spending six months in the jail.
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Detainees are serving prison terms like prisoners, even though their sentences and fines are not fixed, based on court orders.
There is a provision that the record of the prisoner should be kept in the prison, including the period of imprisonment, fines and compensation, and the date of the end of the imprisonment. However, due to delay in the court's verdict of case in time, the long-term detainees are forced to serve their sentences like prisoners inside the prison without record of period of imprisonment and the end of date.
According to the Department of Prison Management, 11,651 detainees, including 765 women and 10,886 men, are serving sentences as prisoners in prisons across the country.
Central Jail Sundhara has triple the capacity of inmates. There are 3,439 prisoners, of which 1,622 are detainees. Thousands of detainees are spending their days in confusion and facing mental stress in the jail.
It is clear in the Prison Act 2079 that the concerned prison must engage the detainees in production work. Similarly, it is mentioned in section 7 of the said law that it is the responsibility of the prison administration to provide free legal aid, manage moral reform and psychosocial counseling. But they are not able to get the facilities specified by the law, including income opportunities, skill development, and psycho-social counseling.
The Central Jail has the data that every year five detainees who are waiting for justice die due to stress and deterioration of their health condition. Lalit Kumar Basnet, Chief of Central Jail, said that these facilities could not be provided due to the limitation of resources and facilities and the increased number of detainees.
It is clear in the said regulation that the state should not behave unjustly and humiliatingly towards the prisoners. However, the state is seriously interfering in the personal and family life of the detainees.
Since the court did not decide the case on time, it was a serious negligence on the part of the state. Deepak Dhwaj Karki, joint secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, said that if the detainees are kept in jail for a long time in the hope of justice, it will damage their personal dignity, income sources and life.
He added that detainees have to face injustice if the inmates in the prison serve more than the prescribed sentence after the court order and the state does not pay compensation for their illegal detention.
“Due to the long delay in the judgment of the case, the accused spends more time in prison than the sentence that should be served. It has ruined their financial and family life as well. There will be challenges for reunification in the family and society. Due to the lack of these things, they are living in extreme despair and injustice,” said Jail Chief Basnet.
“Due to the fact that the detainee has to appear in court, the expenses are also high. As one detainee has to appear in five to six courts of the country, more than Rs 50,000 monthly expenses are incurred,” he said.
Due to the necessity of appearing detainees in the court for the statement, the financial burden on the state has also increased. Officials mentioned that the internal administration is also facing challenges due to the court's refusal to transfer the detainees to the respective districts.
“After being forced to live a confused life in the hope of justice, the involvement of the detainees in clashes and similar violent activities is seen. If there was a provision for the state to pay compensation for illegal detention, they would have received justice in time and would not have had to live in poverty. There would not be any unnecessary burden on the state,” said Central Jail Chief Basnet.
