The prison department will soon implement trial and other court proceedings of undertrials through `Video Conferencing’ by the June this year. The technological up-gradation would help the State police in putting a check on organised crime, executed by underworld dons by operating their gangs in the name of appearance in the court.
"Implementing trial through video conferencing of almost all the accused lodged in jails would prove a mile stone in curbing organised gangs in the State as majority of hardened criminals, now behind the bars; operate their gangs during their appearances in court as they get opportunity to meet or interact over telephone in the name of trial”, said ADG (Prisons), Devendra Singh Chauhan while claiming that this development would go in a long way in clipping the wings of jail birds. He said that by June this year, 75 courts of the State would be connected with 67 jails of the State through `Video Conferencing”.
He claimed that at presents 29 jails and equal number of districts which included Allahabad, Mirjapur, Varanasi, lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Agra, Aligarh, Gorakhpur, Bahraich, lalitpur, Kanpur Dehat, Barabanki, Mathur, Bijnore, Etah, Kaushambhi, Ferojabad, Farukabad, Etawah, Saharanpur, Faizabad, Pratapgarh, Bareilly, Rampur, Shahjahenpur, and Moradabad, have been already connected with video conferencing facilities. He also revealed that they still had no land in Chandauli, Amethi, Sambhal and Shamli, to erect Video Conferencing Room but in other districts, work is in progress and will be completed by June this year.
"The new system would not cut the man power thus facilitating the UP police to have services of at least 2500 more policemen (at present engaged for security cover to produce criminals and undertrials for trial in courts) but over Rs 250 crore per annum incurred on payment of deployment of above duties will be saved’, he further asserted. Citing shoot-out in court at Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Faizabad etc, Chauhan said that besides the above, scheme would also check attack on criminals during trial. The officer also claimed that over Rs 100 crore will be also saved by the Department which had been incurred at present on fuel consumed by the vehicles that were used to produce and brought the undertails back to jail after trial.
