In Historic Reform, Express Checkout From Jail For Prisoners With Bail

Chief Justice N V Ramana today launched a software, which will facilitate quick and secure communication of court orders through electronic mode.

The move is aimed to help in the timely release of prisoners who get bail, but have to wait for the hard copies of the court orders.

The online launch of the "Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records" (FASTER) software was attended by the Supreme Court judges, Chief Justices, and Judges of High Courts.

Around 73 nodal officers have been selected at the High Court level to execute the software. These nodal officers, connected across the country, have been assigned a total of 1,887 email ids.

The Chief Justice said that the software will communicate bail orders and will have the digital signatures of the Supreme Court officers. "The communication is restricted to the email id holders which will ensure confidentiality, safety and security," he added.

FASTER came into being after the bench headed by Chief Justice Ramana last year took suo motu cognizance of delay in the release of convicts even after granting of bail on grounds such as non-receipt or non-verification of judicial orders.

On July 8, 2021, the top court had granted interim bail to 13 convicted prisoners, keeping in view the fact that they were declared juveniles by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) at the time of the commission of the offence and had already served 14 years jail sentence.

However, the authorities delayed the release of these prisoners by four days, stating that they did not receive the certified copy of the order by post.

On July 13, 2021, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognizance of the delay in the release of these convicts. The court then had said that in the internet era, it seems that the jail authorities are relying on "ancient modes" of communication through "pigeons".

Some of the renowned cases where a delay in the release despite the grant of bail had made headlines include, the drugs on cruise case involving Aryan Khan and standup comedian Munawar Faruqui case. There was a delay in the release of Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita as well in the Delhi riots case.