While numerous organisations and individuals carry out philanthropic works in different ways, this Mumbai based organisation is probably the only organisation working to help the under-trial prisoners get out on bail. In the last six years, Global Care Foundation has helped more than 500 under trial prisoners released by paying their bail amount.
Beneficiaries
25-year-old Tauhid Shaikh from Govandi, who works as a waiter at a small restaurant, has been one of the beneficiaries of this initiative. At the age of just 24 years, Shaikh used to drive a rented rickshaw to make ends meet. However, in June things turned for the worst when her mother-in-law accused him of stealing her gold ornaments. The court rejected Shaikh’s bail application thrice and later approved it for an amount of Rs. 50,000.
Shaikh said, “Ultimately, the court reduced the amount to Rs. 15,000 but we had exhausted all our savings in this matter. My wife had learned about Global Care Foundation which helps people like me to come out on bail. After she contacted them, the organisation paid the entire amount and I was able to get out of jail in February.”
Need for the Foundation
It is noteworthy that the jail occupancy has climbed from 118 percent to 131 percent between 2020 and 2023. Out of the total 5.73 lakh prisoners, a whopping 75 percent of them are undertrial. To decrease the overburdening of prisons and help the first-time offenders get a chance to change their life for better, Global Care Foundation has been helping such under-trial prisoners get released on bail. It also organises legal aid sessions, legal and social awareness programmes and paralegal training programmes.
Due to this initiative Raghavendra Dasari was able to get out of jail after 4.5 years. Accused of stealing an auto-rickshaw, as he was sent to jail, all the responsibility was laid on his old mother, who worked as a maid and did not have resources to get his son out. “I had lost the hope that I would ever get to go home again but then this organisation came to my help and I was able to go back to my family after 4.5 years,” said Dasari.
Dhanashri Bhosale was finding a stable job for her husband when a thug assured giving a government job in return of Rs. 3 lakhs. She conveyed about it to the neighbours, who also paid the amount to the agent. “My husband was not earning and that agent fled with all our money. The locals filed a case of fraud and cheating against me. If I had not had this organisation supporting me, I don’t know what would have happened to my two children,” Bhosale said.
552 non-habitual under-trial prisoners helped since 2018
Since 2018, the organisation has helped 552 non-habitual under-trial prisoners get released from different jails of Mumbai and Pune. In the last year itself, the organisation helped 214 prisoners get bail, spending almost Rs. 27 lakhs.
Abid Ahmed, Founder and Managing Trustee of Global Care Foundation said, “The main intent was to explore the world of crime prevention as I felt great lacking in the society for legal aid and awareness. This has caused a huge underprivileged population, especially from minorities, to land up in jails. These undertrials are first time offenders who have been imprisoned for years for the want of mere ten to fifteen thousand rupees.”
