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India’s home minister has vowed to tackle chronic court backlogs by granting bail to detainees awaiting trial for non-serious crimes and who have served at least a third of their potential sentences.

The world’s most populous country has a notoriously slow justice system, with millions of cases pending in the courts.

According to government statistics for early 2024, at least 134,799 people are in detention awaiting trial; of these, 11,448 are languishing in prison for no more than five years.

No details were given on how many prisoners the new bail conditions would affect, but Home Minister Amit Shah said bail for prisoners who meet the conditions should be granted before India’s Constitution Day holiday on November 26.

Shah said he was determined that India would have a “scientific and speedy” criminal justice system.

“It is our effort that before Constitution Day, there will be not a single prisoner left in the country’s prisons who has served one-third of his sentence and has not yet received justice,” Shah told police officers on Tuesday. he said. To the Times of India newspaper.

“If the hearing does not continue after a certain period of time… the prison officer will have to present the bail process in court,” he was quoted as saying.

Those accused of serious crimes are not eligible, he added, including those held under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which allows indefinite detention without trial.

Critics say the law is being used by the government to silence dissenters.

Last year the Supreme Court warned that victims could be “frustrated when the legal process moves at a snail’s pace” and that some cases could take up to 65 years.

There has been little investment in digital systems to streamline and organize hearings, while the small proportion of judges (only 21 per million population in India) means procedures are quite slow.

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