MHA directs state governments to conduct enrolment /updation camps by UIDAI for prisoners
Kanwar Inder singh/ royalpatiala.in
Ministry of Home Affairs MHA directed state governments to conduct enrolment /updation camps by UIDAI for prisoners
The ministry has felt that “prison inmates should also be Aadhaar seeded and various aspects of day to day prison administration like production before court, return to prison, transport, health facilities, transport to outside hospital, interview, free legal aid, parole, temporary release mechanism, education/vocational training, release from prison etc. be regulated by use of Aadhaar. It will be of immense utility to link the inmates of correctional homes to Aadhaar as this will not only help in efficient handling of prisoners but will also ensure that the facility does not get misused and that the security of the prisons is not compromised.”
In this context, the ministry has directed all the additional chief secretaries/ principal secretaries (Home), IG, DIG of all states and UTs to conduct Aadhar enrolment /updation camps by UIDAI in Indian Jails for all prison inmates.
As per MHA, since Aadhaar enrolment is done on the basis of valid supporting documents, as a special measure for prison inmates, UIDAI has agreed to accept the ‘Prisoner Induction Document (PID)’ as a valid document for such enrolments.
MHA directs state governments to conduct enrolment /updation camps by UIDAI for prisoners. As per the Prison Statistics India 2021’ published by NCRB (MHA), there are 1319 prisons in the country (564 Sub Jails, 424 District Jails, 148 Central Jails, 88 Open Jails, 41 Special Jails, 32 Women Jails, 19 Borstal Schools and 3 other than the above Jails) having an inmate population of nearly 5.5 lakh as on 31st December 2021.
MHA communiqué to additional chief secretaries/ principal secretaries (Home), IG, DIG of all states and UTs read “you are requested to make use of this special dispensation made available by the UIDAI and facilitate enrolment/updation of Aadhaar for prison inmates. As part of this initiative, the Head of Prisons Department of the State/UT may chalk out a plan for conducting enrolment/update camps in all prisons of the State/UT and coordinate with the local UIDAI regional office in this regard, who will facilitate in organizing such camps in the jail premises.
November 18,2022
