In a significant move, the Supreme Court is examining the potential of an e-prison portal to streamline the identification and release of inmates who, despite being granted bail, remain incarcerated due to their inability to meet surety requirements. The bench, comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and AG Masih, discussed this during a suo moto case focused on bail grant strategies, highlighting persistent issues within the judicial system.
During the proceedings, the Court reviewed the e-prison portal, developed under the Ministry of Home Affairs by the National Information Centre (NIC), Delhi. This portal connects over 1,300 prisons nationwide, maintaining comprehensive records of inmates from admission to release. The justices underscored the need to update the portal continuously with court case data and to finalize a “Draft Information Sharing Protocol.”
The discussion also addressed concerns regarding the current use of pre-trial numbers (PTNs) and case number records (CNRs). Advocate Devansh A. Mohta, serving as amicus curiae, raised issues about the inconsistency in PTN availability and the manual handling of some records, urging the Court to mandate electronic record-keeping for these identifiers at the trial stage.
Mohta recommended that the higher judiciary and trial courts incorporate an information sheet with identifiers like PTNs, CNRs, and FIR details in final judgments and bail orders to facilitate data collation and ease communication between courts and prisons.
The hearing touched upon the broader implications of the e-prison portal in ensuring that no inmate unnecessarily remains behind bars due to procedural delays or information gaps. The Court also expressed concern over inmates who could not avail themselves of granted bail due to financial constraints, emphasizing the need for solutions that address these disparities.
