Lucknow, Aug 16 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday decided to do away with the British-era jail manual with obsolete provisions like transfer of prisoners to the Andamans and separate lock-ups for European inmates.
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Prisons and Home Guards Dharamveer Prajapati said the state Cabinet approved the proposal to release the UP Jail Manual-2022, incorporating the guidelines issued by the Central government and courts from time to time.
The recommendations of the All India Jail Reform Committee and the National Human Rights Commission have also been taken into account in the manual, Prajapati told newspersons here.
The jail manual will also bring in a new system extending better facilities to prisoners, especially women prisoners, the minister said, adding some rules pertaining to prisoners of ‘princely states’ and those of Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Kashmir have also been abolished.
UP Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avnish Kumar Awasthi said the punishment of ‘kala pani’ has been abolished after 100 years.
The cellular jail, also known as kala pani, was a colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Women prisoners will be allowed to wear salwar suit and ‘mangal sutra’, Prajapati said, adding the provision of nutritious food and medical facilities has been made for pregnant women and mothers.
Under the new system, dishes like ‘kheer’ and ‘seviyan’ will also be made in the jail during the major festivals. During Ramzan, arrangements will be made for dates and fruits for Muslim prisoners, the minister added.
According to the new rules, the naming ceremony of a child born in the jail will be done there. Not only this, the government will also make arrangements for the education and food of these children.
Compulsory digitisation of all the information related to prisoners will be done under the e-prison system, the minister said, adding that an information technology cell will be established in the prison headquarters.
Post-mortem has been made mandatory on the death of a prisoner, he said.
Prajapati said that earlier the selection of the category of jails was done according to the district, but now four categories of jails will be decided on the basis of the number of prisoners.
He said the ‘A’ category prison would be for more than 2,000 prisoners and the ‘B’ category for 1,500 to 2,000 prisoners. He also said that the number of prisoners in category ‘C’ would be 1,000 to 1,500 and that of category ‘D’ would be determined on the basis of the number of prisoners up to 1,000.
Giving information about the change in the weapons used in the jails, the minister said that now in place of .303 rifles, 9mm carbine, pistol and INSAS rifles will be used.
According to the new rules, arrangements have been made to organize a ‘Bandi Panchayat’ for the participation of the prisoners. Such arrangements will be made to make the prisoners appear directly from the jails through video conferencing.
In another important decision, Urban Development Minister A K Sharma said the Cabinet has approved the proposal for amendment in the Uttar Pradesh Defense and Aerospace Unit and Employment Promotion Policy-2018. PTI SAB KVK KVK
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