Delhi Government Plans Inter-State Transfers for High-Risk Undertrial Prisoners
The Delhi government has drawn up a plan to transfer undertrial gangsters, organised criminals, and other high-risk prisoners lodged in city jails to correctional facilities in other States, aiming to curb organised crime and reinforce prison security.
According to a statement released by the Chief Minister’s Office, the administration proposes to implement the Transfer of Prisoners (Punjab Amendment) Act, 2025, in Delhi. This legal step will facilitate the inter-State transfer of undertrial prisoners who pose significant security risks.
Under the proposed mechanism, undertrial gangsters and high-risk inmates could be relocated from Delhi to prisons in other States either through the mutual consent of the respective State governments or with the formal approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The initiative is designed to address a critical limitation in the existing statutory framework. The Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950, currently provides exclusively for the inter-State transfer of convicted inmates, leaving out undertrials whose custody is regulated by remand warrants issued by trial courts. Meanwhile, the Prisons Act, 1900, only allows inmate transfers within the boundaries of a single State.
Government records show that as of May 2026, Delhi recorded 188 members belonging to 26 identified gangs, out of whom 107 individuals had been arrested.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta highlighted the presence of hardened criminals inside Delhi's prisons as a major security challenge. The Chief Minister's Office stated that certain hardened undertrials have continued to orchestrate criminal operations from within custody, including targeted killings, extortion schemes, threats, and broader criminal conspiracies.
The statement added that these undertrials have also allegedly attempted to influence trial witnesses and expand their networks while incarcerated. The government maintained that shifting such inmates to facilities outside Delhi would restrict their direct access to local criminal syndicates and minimise interference with ongoing judicial proceedings.
