Special Jail Adalats will be organised for first time in Odisha in coordination with the State Legal Service Authority (SLSA) and State Prisons and Correctional Services Administration.
Accordingly, the first Special Jail Adalats will be organised on April 24 in all the prisons across the State, said sources.
Thanks to proactive initiative of DG Prisons, Santosh Upadhyay, such efforts are being taken up for the benefit of inmates.DG Prisons Upadhyay has directed all the Jail Superintendents in this regard and directed to hold the same in their respective prisons.
States like Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand have followed the practice of holding Jail Adalats inside prisons on plea bargaining cases, petty offences which are compoundable as per CrPC.
This will help prisoners to get due court orders in petty cases, inside jails.
Beginning from April 24, the Jail Adalats will be organised every month and it will be like Lok Adalat inside prisons.
Around 381 prisoners are in jails due to want of bail conditions /surety, though granted bails by courts.
All the details will be shared to the SLSA for issuing advisory to the District Legal Service Authority(DLSA) for appropriate revision orders by the higher courts.The Jail Superintendents will coordinate with the Secretary DLSA for facilitating identification of suitable cases for consideration by the Special Jail Adalats.
In the Jail Adalats, cases of petty criminal offences or criminal compundable offences and also Under Trial Prisoners (UTP)s, who want to avail the benefit of plea bargaining will be taken up, said sources.
Keeping in view the Covid-19 pandemic, video conferencing can be organised for this purpose, if situation warrants, said sources.The panel lawyers as well as private lawyers may be allowed to meet with concerned UTPs for the purpose while following Covid guidelines, said an official.Several proactive measures are being taken up by the State Prisons and Correctional Services.
In fact under ePrisons Project, the State Prison Administration has issued one laptop to each jail to take care of eMulakat, video conferencing with courts and other projects under ePrisons.
Under modernizing jails, the Prison Administration has issued organic compost machines, vacuum cleaners, power sprayers, eKiosks and washing machines in 20-21.
In the meantime, extra 870 capacity of wards sanctioned by the State Government in 2020-21 for various jails and 135 new staff quarters have been sanctioned.Steps are being taken for introduction of eCustody certificates to be issued to courts, after training by the NIC, said sources.