Fact Check: Does Union Budget provides for release of Muslim prisoners with bail amounts

There has been confusion galore with many stating that the Union Budget provides bail amounts for the early release of Muslim prisoners

New Delhi, Feb 02: There has been confusion on the social media after reports claimed that the Union Budget 2023 presented by Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman could help Muslim prisoners with release and bail amounts.

A Zee News report said that the new schemes announced by the Centre for poor prisoners could end up helping Muslim inmates.

"Shocking! Modi govt to help criminals in jail with bail and provide funds to pay their fine!! Maximum beneficiaries of this new scheme in budget will be Muslims!! What the hell is going on in this nation," read a tweet by user Ritu Rathaur.

Many more users took to Twitter while sharing the Zee News report and wrote, "shocking."

So what is the truth:

The truth is that the Union Budget announced by Nirmala Sitharaman does not include specific schemes which are aimed at the early release of Muslim prisoners. Neither does the Budget speak about providing inmates with bail relief. The Finance Minister instead spoke about providing financial support to people who are unable to afford bail amounts or prison penalties.

The exact words of the minister were, "support for poor persons who are in prison and are unable to afford penalty or bail amount, required financial support will be provided."

The announcement by Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman are in line with the appeal made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts. He had urged them to grant priority to cases related to undertrial prisoners languishing in jails and also release them, as per law, based on human sensitivities.

PM Modi also had said a committee, headed by the respective District Judge, exists in each district to review cases and release prisoners who are eligible on bail whenever it is possible.