24% inmates in UP jails are Dalits, 45% OBCs as on 2021: Indian govt
New Delhi, March 17 (KMS): As many as 24% of the inmates in the jails of Uttar Pradesh state were Dalits while 45% are Other Backward Classes (OBCs), the Indian government told the Parliament citing 2021 data.
Minister of state (MoS), Ajay Kumar Mishra, revealed this while responding to a question raised by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member Shyam Singh Yadav.
“As on 2021, there were 90,606 undertrial prisoners in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Out of these, 21,942 belonged to Scheduled Caste (SC) community, 4,657 belonged to Scheduled Tribe (ST) community and 41,678 belonged to OBC category,” said Mishra.
The BSP MP had raised concerns about the prisoners in jails, including matters such as their trials, overcrowding of jails and prisoners belonging from the disadvantaged socio-economic groups that await trials.
