Burail Jail has become the first jail in the northern region, comprising Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir among others, to introduce Aadhar cards for prisoners. Earlier, the facility was introduced for jail inmates in Kolkata and Indore. In a span of last 20 days, over 800 Burail jail inmates registered their personal details for UID.
However it was not an easy task for the authorities in Burail Jail. Jail inmates were hesitant to share their biometric details. Considering the inmates’ apprehension, the authorities organised a workshop to dispel fears of misuse of UID against them.
Some jail inmates told The Pioneer that they were not happy to share their biometric information. “Aadhar Card, which provides biometric identification of a person, will be handy for the investigators to track an inmate if they get involved in any criminal activity after release from jail,” shared one of the jail inmates.
Ravinder Singh, coordinating officer for UID registration, said, “Earlier, the inmates had some concerns, and were not ready to enroll for the facility. But later, after attending a workshop with IG Prisons Alok Kumar, the inmates expressed willingness to enroll for UID.” Singh added, “During the workshop session, the jail inmates were made aware about the benefits of Aadhar card.”
The Aadhar card of Burail jail inmates would help their families in opening bank accounts and for other verification purpose.