NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over the delay in communicating bail orders to jail authorities on time, Supreme Court Judge Justice D Y Chandrachud stressed that this drawback in the system needs to be corrected at the earliest as it affects the liberty of the individuals.
“This is a serious deficiency in our system, the delay in communication of bail orders. This touches upon human liberty of every under trial,” he said. Recently, Aryan Khan had to spend two extra nights in jail despite getting bail from the Bombay High Court.
“One of the initiatives which Chief Justice S Muralidhar is launching at the Orissa High Court is the e-custody certificate, so that every undertrial and every convict who is undergoing the sentence of imprisonment will have an e-custody certificate tagged to them,” Justice Chandrachud said at the inauguration of virtual courts and e-Sewa Kendra at Allahabad HC and district courts.
“That certificate will give all the requisite data with regard to that particular undertrial or convict, right from initial remand to the subsequent progress.” This will also help in ensuring that bail orders are communicated as soon as they are made, he added.
In his speech, Justice Chandrachud, who is also the chairperson of e-committee of the apex court, also expressed hope that live streaming of Allahabad HC proceedings would soon become a reality, like what is already prevalent in Gujarat and Karnataka high courts.
The SC judge also highlighted the need for E-seva kendras, stating that it has been necessitated due to digital divide due to which a large chunk of our population does not have access to technology. “There is this great digital divide, lawyers are representatives of these people at large,” he said.