The amendment, Section 436 (1) of CrPC, provides that if a person is granted bail, but is unable to furnish the bail bond within seven days, he should be declared indigent, and released from jail on his own personal bond. UP’s IG, Prisons, Sulkhan Singh said as many as 12,780 inmates had been freed, giving them the benefit of this amendment.

The process was set in motion about six months ago when the Prison Department asked all 53 district jails to prepare lists of inmates whose cases fell under this category. The department, with the help of the district administration and public prosecutors, then moved applications before the courts for the release of the inmates. The process is still on.

The IG said the Prison Department directly submitted applications of such persons before court for release. “We also make arrangements to provide legal aid to undertrials who cannot afford it,” he said.

Another senior officer said such people kept languishing in prisons because “nobody wants to stand surety for them. In some cases, advocates don’t bother about such clients due to pending fees.”

Senior advocate Rohit Kant said those eligible to be released under Section 436 (1) could, in fact, write to the magistrates of the courts where their cases were on.