The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has decided to form a working group to study the plight of tribal inmates on death row and life convicts, who are languishing in jails after 14 years of incarceration.
It has also written to States and union territories asking them to furnish information on such prisoners.
The directions have come on a petition which argued that most of the convicts belonging to tribal communities are "poor and illiterate" and do not get proper legal aid during trial or to file an appeal for parole and remission.
