NEW DELHI: For many prisoners in Delhi, freedom remains trapped in paperwork even after courts grant them bail. The Delhi High Court has stepped in with a solution. In a May 22 order, it directed jail superintendents in the capital to use Aadhaar QR code verification applications to speed up the release of inmates granted bail.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Mahajan heard a suo motu case involving a prisoner who remained incarcerated for over a week despite securing bail because verification formalities were not completed..
The court noted that delays in verifying sureties—individuals who guarantee an accused’s appearance before court—were keeping prisoners behind bars long after judicial orders cleared them for release.
The judges directed authorities to verify identities by scanning the secure QR code embedded in Aadhaar cards through approved applications, including the Aadhaar QR Scanner App, mAadhaar App and Aadhaar App.
The court examined prison data from February 1 to 15 this year, which showed that the average time to release prisoners after bail ranged from five-six. In several cases, however, the delay stretched to 33 days, and in some instances, even 56 days, largely because of interstate verification procedures and scrutiny of financial documents submitted as sureties.
“Once the details are obtained from these applications, if further verification is required, the same shall also be done in an expeditious manner,” the bench said.
The direction followed officials from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), informing the court that Aadhaar-based verification technology was already
being used in prisons across the country for visitor authentication. During the hearing, UIDAI officials also demonstrated mobile applications capable of instantly verifying Aadhaar credentials through QR code scanning.