Jails in Jammu Kashmir are overcrowded beyond capacity, the data by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs revealed.
According to the data, there are over 4105 prisoners lodged in 14 jails in Jammu Kashmir against a capacity of 3600.
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The data revealed that there were 1,306 Jails in India, out of which 14 are in Jammu Kashmir. Out of the total 4 88, 511 prisoners, 4105 are jailed in Jammu Kashmir.
Jammu Kashmir has an occupancy rate of 112.2 percent. The region also has the highest ratio of undertrials in jails at 91 per cent, followed by Bihar and Punjab at 85%, and Odisha at 83%.
The Occupancy rate of District Jails in Jammu Kashmir stands at 130.3 percent.
Against the total capacity of 1893 in District jails, there are 2466 inmates lodged in these jails throughout Jammu Kashmir.
The occupancy rate in Special jails of Jammu Kashmir is almost 172 per cent. Also, against an available capacity of 3537 male prisoners and 123 female prisoners, Jammu Kashmir jails have 3977 male and 128 female inmates.
The number of arrests has gone up this year.
According to a report by The Print, at least 500 people are currently jailed under the Public Safety Act in Jammu Kashmir, out of these, 150 were arrested between March and April.
To resolve the problem of overcrowding, the Jammu Kashmir Police are writing to prison departments in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, seeking to shift out some prisoners so space can be made to accommodate more PSA-accused.
In December, an RTI by two Kashmiri students revealed that a total of 4031 prisoners were lodged in fourteen jails across Jammu Kashmir against a capacity of 3660 persons.
The RTI also revealed that 32 Prisoners were lodged in Jails across Uttar Pradesh and eleven in Haryana.
Hundreds of Kashmiris were shifted to Jails in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh during the abrogation of special status of Jammu Kashmir in August 2019.