Video calling facilities offered by WhatsApp and Google Duo are coming to the aid of undertrial and remand prisoners of Kerala, thanks to the COVID-19 threat.
Also, the Registry of the Kerala High Court has directed trial courts not to insist on personal appearances of sureties and submission of bail bonds in bail applications. Instead, the courts will accept scanned copies of relevant documents, including bail bonds by email, and release eligible prisoners on bail.
Lawyers can initiate the bail application by emailing a request to the Principal or Additional District and Sessions Judge holding charge of the district. Once the judge grants permission, the advocate can upload the application along with relevant documents signed by sureties to the official email ID of the court or the judge concerned. The judge would pass the order after hearing the public prosecutor and the advocate through video call or call conferencing facility and verifying the documents, in accordance with the law. The judge will forward the documents to the jail superintendents along with the release memo, according to an office memorandum issued by K. Haripal, Registrar General.
The prisoners who are not covered by the one-month amnesty scheme introduced for decongesting Kerala jails can make use of the facility.
The lawyers of the prisoners who are thus released should submit the originals of the bail bond documents with necessary court fee stamp to the court concerned within three days of the withdrawal of the lockdown and the resumption of the normal working of the courts, Mr. Haripal said.
