Delhi plans legal route to move high-risk undertrials to jails outside the Capital

Delhi wants to use a 2025 Punjab law to transfer some high-risk undertrial prisoners from the Capital’s jails to prisons in other states.

The proposed move would extend the Transfer of Prisoners (Punjab Amendment) Act, 2025, to Delhi. It could apply to undertrials linked to gangs or organised crime, and other prisoners considered high risk. Transfers would require mutual consent from the governments involved, or approval from the Union home ministry.

Chief minister Rekha Gupta said the framework would be used in the interests of prison security, law and order and public interest. The government has said it could help curb attempts by inmates to maintain networks, influence witnesses or interfere with trial proceedings.

Government data cited 188 members of 26 identified gangs as active in Delhi in May 2026; 107 of them had been arrested. Officials said some undertrials had remained involved in extortion, threats, targeted killings, gang rivalries and criminal conspiracies while in custody.

At present, the Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950, provides for inter-state transfers of convicted prisoners, while undertrial movement is generally limited within a state. The Punjab amendment received presidential assent on April 21, 2025.