MIM

Imtiaz Jalil

Azhar Tamboli

Asaduddin Owaisi

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen () aspires to be the messiah for several undertrials languishing in state prisons, with no money to seek either bail or legal aid. The state unit of the party has decided to provide financial and legal assistance to these prisoners — nabbed for petty or compoundable crimes — in a bid to help innocents get justice and the guilty mend their criminal ways.“A large number of undertrials in the state prisons have put a lot of pressure on the jail administration. Besides law and order, there are human rights issues as well. The party aims to give some relief to such needy but innocent undertrials, who have spent more than half the actual incarceration period of their crime in prison,” MLA and MIM state spokespersontold Mirror. The MIM’s state unit sent a letter to the state prisons department a couple of days ago, requesting for the name, age and crime of undertrials facing minor charges, whose cases are pending in court owing to the absence of legal formalities. The party would bail them out after verification and also take responsibility for their good behaviour in future.Even though he clarified that it is a community-centric move, Jalil admitted that most of the jails are crowded with Muslim youths rounded up for petty crimes. “Just because nobody is there to provide the bail amount, they are becoming hardened criminals in jail,” he added. The MIM will be forming special committees for all the central jails in the state. Jalil stressed that the aid is not restricted to undertrials belonging to the minority community. “However, we are not going to help any hardened criminal,” he insisted, pointing out that according to Union home ministry data, while Muslims comprise about 12 per cent of the state’s population, they make up nearly 32 per cent of the undertrial population in prisons.Former Pune district general secretary of MIMsaid, “Unofficial figures state that over 35 per cent undertrials are Muslims. We have begun gathering information from Yerwada jail about prisoners who are in the jail for a month to a year. We would request the jail authorities and the court to conduct proper proceedings and then release such prisoners.”MIM chiefhailed the state unit’s move, saying, “It is good that they are concentrating on what the Supreme Court has stressed on in its judgments from time to time.” Advocate Tosif Shaikh who is working for needy undertrials, added, “There are many kept detained for more than half the prescribed period of imprisonment and some who were eligible for release, but are still in jail. They can be released with an affidavit of good conduct.