Pointing out to the fact that many prison inmates were unaware about their case status, hearing dates, judgements and other information, an advocate moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday seeking a direction to the State to set up information kiosks in all central jails.
In his public interest litigation petition, advocate K. R. Raja of Madurai said most of the prison inmates depended on free legal counsels assigned by the District Legal Services Authorities for case details. But thee counsels could be shifted to other duties as per the monthly duty roster prepared by the DLSA.
Due to lack of information and problem in accessing information about their case status, the prison inmates were depressed, the petitioner said. He said that in Karnataka, the State government had installed kiosks in prisons for the benefit of prisoners to access information on their case status.
He said that he sent a detailed representation to the prison authorities to set up information kiosks in central prisons in the State and also to provide a computer with Internet connection and printer for the legal counsels to assist the prison inmates in accessing the information. But there was no response from the prison authorities.
A Division Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and S. Ananthi ordered notice to the State and sought a response in the case.
Published - April 01, 2021 09:31 pm IST
