The details of prisoners who are set to be released on a recent Supreme Court order should be put in public domain, the Central Information Commission said in a directive to Tihar Jail.
Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu directed Tihar authorities to place details of all such undertrials and prisoners in public domain as part of mandatory disclosure clause under the Right to Information Act.
"The policy of releasing prisoners being a new one, the Commission directes the respondent to place in public domain all details of persons authorised to be released from prisons under its custody as per the Supreme Court order," he said.
The Supreme Court on September 5 had ordered release of all undertrial prisoners who have spent half of the maximum sentence prescribed for the offences they are charged with, bringing much needed relief to poor people who are languishing in jails as they are not able to pay sureties and bail bond to get out of jail.
It is estimated that out of around 3.81 lakh prisoners across the country, about 2.54 lakh, are undertrials. In many cases, the accused have spent more time in jail than the actual sentence which might be awarded to him in case of conviction.
Hearing the plea of activist Venkatesh Nayak, the Commissioner also directed the Tihar authorities to make public complete text of latest version of prison manual along with rules, regulations and guidelines.
