The Supreme Court, on Thursday, 2 February, issued a set of directions related to undertrial prisoners, who have been granted bail, but continue to languish in prison for not being able to fulfill conditions mentioned in their bail order.
What guidelines? A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka said that:
1)The Court passing the bail order would be required to e-mail a soft copy of the order to the prisoner through the jail superintendent on the same or the next day. The Superintendent will then have to enter the date of the grant of bail in the e-prisons software or any other software being used by them
2) If the accused is not released within a period of 7 days, it would be the jail superintendent's responsibility to get the prisoner in touch, through appropriate authorities, with a para legal volunteer or jail visiting advocate to assist them