HYDERABAD, March 29: As many as 10,383 under trial prisoners of Central Prison Hyderabad and 3,710 of Special Prison Nara could not be produced in courts last year.

This was revealed by inquiries conducted by this correspondent. Jail sources linked the prisoners' non-production in courts to shortage of prisoners vans and escort vehicles and added that the issue concerned the police.

However, the under-trial prisoners (UTPs) accused jail administrations of demanding bribe for taking them to court and also of discriminating against inmates disliked by officials in this respect.

Official figures of the Hyderabad jail showed that out of 20,988 prisoners, required to be produced in districts other than Hyderabad, 16,325 were produced and 4,853 could not be produced.

Similarly, out of 21,463 inmates of the prison, required to be produced in Hyderabad district courts, 15,933 were produced whereas 5530 could not be taken to courts. Of 16,603 prisoners of the Nara jail, 3,710 could not be produced between January-October 2003.

Relatives of the prisoners bear monetary losses because anticipating meeting with the inmates, they turn up in courts with food and other items to be handed over to the detainees.

Jail sources said that law and order situation had been created in the prisons in the past as prisoners resorted to violence to protest their continued non-production. A jail official referred to September 2000 mutiny staged by the prisoners.

Non-production of under-trial prisoners is also the root cause of an inordinate delay in disposal of cases in courts. Sources said that in case a UTP was not produced in a court, entire process of his production got automatically reversed.

A source claimed that the UTPs - including Hyder Bux, Hakim Ali, Lal Bux, Ikhtiyar, Muneer and Haroon - had not been produced in the courts in Mehar, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Karachi and Khipro for the last several months and some of them had not been taken to courts since 2,002.

Concerned police officials painted a bleak picture regarding condition of prisoners and escort vans, strength of police force and funds. Hyderabad district has only seven prisoners vans, two of them are permanently off road. Of the five plying vans, only two are in better condition whereas others always need immediate repairs.