Very soon one will get summons and other legal papers printed by murder convicts, particularly women inmates from the loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan Central Jail in Hazaribagh.
The Jharkhand High Court has placed an order to the tune of Rs 64 lakh to print as many as 30 types of forms for summons, warrant, deportation etc, besides preparing file board, cover file to the jail to be used by the courts across the State. Earlier, the High Court incurred over Rs 2 crore over printing of stationeries from the private printing press.
The project, a part of the scheme mooted by acting Chief Justice DN Patel and cleared by former CJ Prakash Tatia, was aimed to provide gainful employment to the convicted inmates and at the same time lessen the burden on the public exchequer. Justice Patel happens to be the chairman of the Rules Committee of the High Court. Justice Patel told The Pioneer that the scheme, which has already kickstarted, will not only give financial stability to those who are under custody, particularly women convicts but also their kin who are out of jail.
“Besides, it will also give a boost to the victim’s compensation scheme as stipulated under Section 357 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC),” he added. “We want to issue guidelines to the State Government that out of jail kin of the convicts should also get part of their remuneration,” he said. According to the rules, one-third of the amount earned by the prisoners is supposed to be deposited in the fund meant for the victims of the offence committed by the convicted persons and the rest is disbursed as remuneration. A skilled prisoner is earning Rs 46 a day, while a semi-skilled one is being paid Rs 28 a day. Unskilled jailbirds are receiving Rs 16 a day.
The acting Chief Justice pointed out that the high court had earlier sought a status report of the five central jails on 23 points in the State by constituting a team of lawyers. “Among other revelations, we found that there are 216 lady convicts who have children below six years of age staying with them in the jail. The rest of their children are staying outside jail with grandmothers and other relatives. Besides, we found that a state of art printing press was functioning in Hazaribagh central jail,” he pointed out.
Under the rules, children up to six years of age are allowed to stay with their mother in jail. “We immediately summoned the Jail Superintendent and discussed the issue with him. We put two conditions. First, the work order would be given to the Central Jail only if the printing job was not outsourced to any agency. And the jail authorities must also involve women inmates in the production. The jail authorities readily accepted both the conditions,” he pointed out.
“It is an experiment. I don’t know its impact. But we think the State Government and other institutions should also place such orders to the press,” the acting CJ said, adding the remuneration also needs to be revised. The Hazaribagh jail authorities are no less elated. “It is a big challenge for us. We have been earlier given the work by various departments in the districts but this is the biggest order for us. We are on the job. And it will take at least four months to accomplish the task,” pointed out jailer Chandrashekhar Prasad Suman, who is the nodal officer for the scheme. “Though the printing press has been there for over 50 years, a state- of-art press was installed one year back” he added.
“In fact, this system of giving printing order to the jail printing press had been prevalent in various jails, including Gaya central jail till 70s. However, the press went outdated with the passage of time and could not provide quality work. So, it was trusted to the private printing presses. It is good that the scheme is being revived in Jharkhand. So, other high courts should take a cue from us,” pointed out an official.