21 years in jail, no trial: Lawyers take up fight for mentally ill Karnataka man

The Karnataka High Court has taken up a case involving a mentally ill undertrial prisoner who has been held in Bengaluru Central Prison for 21 years without a criminal trial. Justice C M Poonacha has directed the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority to be a party to the case and set a hearing for Thursday. V Srinivasa, the petitioner, was arrested in 2005 for allegedly killing his wife, but has remained in custody ever since.

The case file was found missing from official records, leading the lawyers to argue that missing files cannot justify denying a prisoner his fundamental liberty. The petition highlights serious concerns over the handling of a case involving a mentally ill undertrial prisoner in custody for over two decades. Srinivasa was deemed unsound mind in 2015 and transferred to a psychiatric ward, with the last entry in the case file being from that year.

Despite the e-courts portal indicating the case as disposed of, the petition points to Supreme Court directives requiring regular medical evaluations and fitness reports for mentally ill undertrials.