The Supreme Court has directed judicial officers to release all under trial prisoners who have spent half of the maximum sentence for the offences they are charged with. The court asked them to file report after two months on the released prisoners.

The Supreme Court also directed all lower judicial officers to visit jails from 1st of October within their jurisdiction once in a week for two months to find out condition of under trials. The apex court asked the Center to place before it a road map for fast tracking criminal justice delivery system.

It expressed concern over lack of budgetary support to judiciary and asked Center to grant more funds to create infrastructure.

Last month, the court termed the issue of under trials languishing in jails as serious and had asked the Center to convene a meeting of Home Secretaries of all the States to find a solution to the problem.