An empowered committee of the Department of Prison & Correctional Services in East Jaintia Hills has been constituted to implement the ‘Support to Poor Prisoners’ scheme with the District Magistrate as the chairman.
The scheme was formulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs for providing relief to poor prisoners, who are unable to pay the fine imposed on them or are unable to secure bail due to financial constraints.
East Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner has informed that the committee will comprise of the Superintendent, District Prison &Correctional Home as Member Secretary while the other members of the committee are the Additional District Magistrate (Judicial), the Superintendent of Police, a nominee of the District & Sessions Judge and the Secretary, District Legal Services Authority.
The terms of reference of the Committee include assessing the requirement of financial support in each case for securing bail or payment of fine, etc and based on the decisions taken, the District Magistrate will draw money from the Account of the Central Agency (CAN) and take necessary action to deposit the required amount with the concerned court.
Also, the committee may appoint a Nodal Officer and take the assistance of any civil society representative or social worker to assist the committee in processing cases of prisoners in need.
