UP rolls out e-governance in jails

The prisons in Uttar Pradesh are getting e-savvy with the state government rolling out e-governance in jails to simplify procedures related to inmates.

The plan primarily involves setting up videoconferencing and broadband facilities in jails for remand of prisoners.

The government has implemented 'E-prison UP' platform in consort with National Informatics Centre (NIC) after approving an action plan of about Rs 4.30 crore.

Recently, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has written to union home minister Rajnath Singh apprising him of the progress in this regard.

At present, the remand for the under-trials lodged in nine UP prisons is being done through videoconferencing. In 25 other jails, the remand process is being processed via broadband-based systems.

So far, almost half million prisoners have been put on remand procedure through videoconferencing, Yadav mentioned in his letter.

Earlier, the union home ministry had sought information from UP regarding the progress of remand through videoconferencing and also relief to the under-trials under Section 436A and 436(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) with a view to addressing the problem of overcrowding in jails.

The Section lays down the maximum period under which an under-trial could be detained during investigation.

There are 65 prisons in UP, including 5 central jails at Agra, Bareilly, Varanasi, Naini (Allahabad) and Fatehgarh. There are 54 district jails, 3 sub jails and 3 specialised prisons at Lucknow and Bareilly. The maximum numbers of prisons are located in Lucknow and Gorakhpur regions at 14 each.

UP jails are overcrowded and hold 50-70 percent more prisoners vis-à-vis capacity. Under-trails are almost double the number of convicts. In 2012, the total count of inmates, including convicts and under-trials in UP jails stood at 80,358 (including 53,373 under-trails) against their total capacity of 47,518.