BHUBANESWAR: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the State government is planning to organise jail adalats in prisons from April for faster disposal of cases.
The adalats will strive to ensure faster disposal of cases and ease overcrowding in prisons in the State. At present, some states including Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu organise such adalats for the inmates of jails.
"Jail adalats will be held in coordination with the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) and prison officials on jail premises. It will provide an opportunity to the under trial prisoners (UTPs) for plea bargaining, which helps settle the cases quickly in the prisons itself. Cases relating to petty offences, which are compoundable in nature as per the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), would be quickly disposed of," said DG of Prisons and Director of Correctional Services Santosh Kumar Upadhyay.
Around 381 prisoners are lodged in different jails for their failure to comply with the bail conditions and inability to furnish sureties.
“Their details have been shared with the SLSA. We have requested it to instruct the District Legal Services Authority to ensure the revision of orders by approaching higher courts,” said Upadhyay.
There are about 86 jails in the State and 19,096 prisoners were lodged in them till January 21.
E-custody certificate
The Directorate of Prison has also initiated steps to introduce issuance of e-custody certificate in jails. The lawyer of a prisoner used to submit the custody certificate in courts mentioning details like how many days his/her client has already served in jails and accordingly bail is granted to them.
“The online system will help in cutting down unnecessary delays in delivery of custody certificates and save time, travel and money. The prison officials will start issuing e-custody certificates after a training programme by National Informatics Centre (NIC),” said a prison official.