Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The enforcement of MP Sudharatmak Sevayen Evam Bandigrah Adhiniyam 2024, which is going to replace Prisoners Act-1894, has been deferred by a month.
The Act was scheduled to come into force in the State on October 2, but now it will be implemented across the state on November 1, said the officials here on Monday.
DG Correctional Services, GP Singh talking to Free Press confirmed that the state government had decided to implement the Act on Madhya Pradesh Foundation Day that falls on November 1. People familiar with the matter said that the jail manual is incomplete and so the implementation of the so there is delay in and because it is incomplete the Act cannot be implemented.
The officials of the jail department are working day and night to complete the manual, but incorporating the high numbers of amendments is leading to the delay in implementing the Act. The Act has been drafted on the lines of the Union Government’s Model Prisons Act. On August 12th, the state government had issued the gazette notification of the Act.
The Act aims at modernizing prison management, integrating databases with central systems and enhancing security. Measures include biometric identification and advanced technology to curb unauthorized communication, addressing overcrowding and staff training. Earlier, it was scheduled that from the Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi October 2, Madhya Pradesh jails will be called prison and correctional institutions, and jail officials will be known as correctional services officials.
The new Act aims to address overcrowding, modernize prison management with technology, and improve inmate rehabilitation. The Act integrates state databases with the central system and introduces measures for inmate security and identification.
The act will replace the old Act enforced by the British rulers to suppress the Indians in the jails. It is informed that many of the sections have been removed from the Act and now it is prepared as correctional services. The government would use state-of-the-art technological interventions to detect and prohibit the use of unauthorised wireless communication and other electronic devices.
Officials said that the new Act addresses the issues of overcrowding in jails, understanding the psychology of a criminal, and training jail staff to deal with a criminal in a better way.
