EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
Do you think denial of "Voting Rights for Under trial Prisoners" is undemocratic?.
- The right to vote is a constitutional right under Article 326of the Constitution.
- Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,individuals in the lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Undertrial prisoners are also excluded from participating in elections even if their names are on the electoral rolls.
- Only those under preventive detentioncan cast their vote through postal ballots.
- Recently, the Supreme Courthas decided to examine a petition challenging a provision in the election law that imposes a blanket ban on under trials, persons confined in civil prisons and convicts serving their sentence in jails from casting their votes.
Implications
- Disenfranchises a Large Segment of the Population:
- The latest National Crime Reports Bureau (NCRB)report of 2021 shows that a total of 5,54,034 prisoners were confined as on 31th December, 2021 in various jails across the country.
- The number of convicts, undertrial inmates and detenues were reported as 1,22,852, 4,27,165 and 3,470, respectively, accounting for 22.2%, 77.1% and 0.6% respectively at the end of 2021.
- There was a hike of 14.9% in the number of undertrial prisoners from 2020 to 2021.
- Undermine Respect for Law and Democracy:
- Denying penitentiary (a prison) inmates the right to vote is more likely to send messages that undermine respect for the law and democracythan messages that enhance those values.
- Deprive from Right:
- Denying the right to vote does not comply with the requirements for legitimate punishment.
- If a convicted person can vote if she is out on bail, why is the same right denied to an under trialwho is not yet found guilty of a crime by a court of law.
- Even a judgment-debtor (a person who has not paid his debt despite a court verdict) who has been arrested and detained as a civil person is deprived of her right to vote. Detainment in civil prisons is unlike imprisonment for crimes.
- Lacks Reasonable Classification:
- The ban lacks reasonable classification based on the nature of the crime or duration of the sentence imposed unlike in countries like South Africa, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Greece, Canada, etc.
- This lack of classification is anathema to the fundamental right to equality under Article 14 (right to equality).
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