Incarceration has many consequences on family, dependents of alleged offender: Justice Magrey

Srinagar, Sep 10: Executive Chairman, J&K Legal Services Authority, Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, accompanied by Additional Chief Secretary Home, R K Goel and other senior officers of government and Legal Services Institutions Saturday visited Central Jail Srinagar to take stock of condition of Central Jail Srinagar including facilities for inmates.
On the occasion, Justice Magrey was presented guard of honour by the CRPF.
Afterwards, DGP Prisons, H K Lohia, accompanied Justice Magrey to male and female blocks of the inmates.
Justice Magrey had interaction with the inmates there regarding the facilities being made available to them. He directed the legal services officers to ensure that no UTP should remain unrepresented in the court.
Later, Justice Magrey visited the vocational centres including barber shop, bakery, tailoring centre, carpentary, kitchen, hospital, VC facility, e-mulakatcentre, Gymnasium and Drug De-addiction Centre.
Justice Magrey appreciated the efforts made by the government in general and the department of Prisons in particular for maintaining high standards of living in jail and providing all the basic facilities like hygienic food, medical facilities and skill training to the inmates.
Justice Magrey, while addressing the inmates, stated that Access to Justice for all includes justice to all irrespective of which section of the society they belong to. He said that the criminal justice system speaks about two sets of people, that is, the victim(s) and the offender(s). But there is another section which remains unacknowledged by the system and is looked down upon by the society, that is, the family/dependents of the offenders. The fact of incarceration of the offender has many consequences on the family/dependents of the offender.
He said in many cases, the convict/under trial prisoner (UTP) is the sole bread earner of the family. Due to his absence, the family gets trapped in the vicious circle of poverty and other economic, socio-legal or psychological issues, he added. This itself constitutes barrier to access to justice for the family members. Therefore, it is the duty of J&K government to ensure the well being of dependents of the inmates, so that the goal of access to justice for all is achieved.
Additional Chief Secretary, Home, while speaking on the occasion, ensured that few issues raised by the inmates and officers regarding court hearings through virtual mode shall be addressed expeditiously.
Later, a mesmerizing cultural programme was presented by a group of jail inmates comprising Umer Noor, Waseem Feroz, Irshad & group. The cultural event was impressively compared by Sadat Maqsood, an inmate.
The other officers present on the occasion included M. K. Sharma, Member Secretary, J&K LSA, Jawad Ahmed, PDJ& Chairman DLSA Srinagar, Anoop Sharma, CPC, High Court, Noor Mohammad, Secretary, DLSA Srinagar, Abdul Bari, Joint Registrar (Judicial), Daljit Singh, Superintendent, Central Jail Srinagar and Sabha Shawl, Staff Officer to DGP Prisons.