To ensure speedy settlement of court cases, the Yogi Adityanath Government in Uttar Pradesh is preparing for trials through video conferencing of prisoners in jails, who have not appeared before the court for more than a year.

A proposal in this regard has been presented by the Department of Prison Administration and Reforms to the state chief secretary.  After the approval of the proposal by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, it will be implemented, officials said here on Thursday.

What is noteworthy is that there are many prisoners in the state jails, who are not being summoned by the court due to transfer and conviction.  Therefore, the department has recommended trials through video conferencing.

According to the figures presented by the department, a total of 232 such prisoners are lodged in various jails of the state that have not appeared in the court for one year or more.  They include 16 prisoners from Ayodhya zone, 55 from Lucknow, eight from Kanpur, ten from Varanasi, five from Prayagraj, 41 from Meerut, 24 from Gorakhpur, 28 from Bareilly and 45 from Agra zone.

The department said due to transfer of these prisoners from one jail to another and conviction, the court has not called them for appearance in more than a year, leading to obstruction in the hearing of their cases.

In such a situation, at the initiative of the government, the hearing of the prisoners’ stalled cases can be resumed through trial through video conferencing, official said.

Apart from this, the Department of Prison Administration and Reforms has also recommended that the prisoners who have been sentenced from 3 months to seven years by the court should be given bail from the police stations.

In this regard too, the proposal can be implemented after getting the approval of the chief minister.  There are as many as 2,371 such prisoners in the jails of the state, who have been sentenced from three years to seven years imprisonment by the court.

The maximum number of such prisoners is in Mathura jail where 395 inmates are awaiting bail.  Apart from this, 235 inmates of Ghaziabad jail, 213 in Aligarh jail, 160 in Naini-Prayagraj jail and 107 in Muzaffarnagar jail are waiting for bail.