Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The implementation of new Jail Manual of Madhya Pradesh has been postponed indefinitely. The new Jail Manual was to come into effect from January 1 this year. However, due to some translation glitches, its implementation has been delayed.
The new manual has been prepared in keeping with provisions of The Madhya Pradesh Correctional Services and Prisons Act, 1984, notified on September 30 last year. The Act has replaced three legislations of British era – Prisons Act, 1894, Prisoners Act, 1900, and the Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1954.
The new Act has 18 chapters and contains provisions meant to turn prisons into reformatories. The Jail Manual prepared under the new Act has 981 provisions. It was originally prepared in Hindi. But when it was translated into English, the law department found discrepancies between the two versions.
As the English version will be considered authoritative text in case of difference between the two, the Hindi version will now have to be aligned with English one. The law department has sent the draft manual back to the jail department, seeking relevant changes. The jail department has sought time to complete the exercise.
Once the changes are made by jail department, it will again be vetted by the law department before notification and implementation. The new manual has many new elements like provision of better diet for the prisoners, furlough for undertrials and convicted prisoners with good behaviour and the like.
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‘More time sought’ The law department has sought more time for evaluating the draft of Jail Manual. Hence its implementation has been delayed. It may now come into force around April this year. -Govind Pratap Singh, DG, Jail and Correctional Services
