A group of around 20 lawyers in Maharashtra has, for the last two and a half years, been patiently working towards reducing the pendency of cases in the state’s courts. They have their eyes set an additional goal: to decrease the overcrowding in prisons by using a little known legal hack with its origins in dark history.

The practice of plea bargaining was first introduced in the Indian legal system in the form of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2005, and was legally enforced in the country in July 2006. Under this provision, an accused arrested in a an offence punishable by seven years of imprisonment or less can plead guilty to the charges and be released after a reduced sentence, often the time already served.