Probation Act to aid languishing jailbirds

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Social Justice Department has launched a selective intensive campaign to popularize an Act more than half-a-century old. Though the Kerala Probation of Offenders Rules, 1960, was passed in 1960, none of the stakeholders, be it the judiciary or the police, have a proper understanding of the Act.
 The strategy is to reach posters, pamphlets and other awareness materials to the offices of stakeholders, to police stations, courts, units of the Legal Services Authority and various offices of the Social Justice Department. “The ignorance is so rooted that there are hundreds of undertrial prisoners who are still languishing in the state’s jails even after two decades,” said Mr K K Mony, a senior Social Justice Department official.  
Under the Rules, all undertrial prisoners except those charged with serious crimes like murder or rape can be send on probation, an out-of-jail reformation programme. Instead of locking up the offender, the Rules allow the accused to lead a normal existence – to be with his/her family at home and work and earn like any other non-offender - but will be under strict though relatively non-intrusive scrutiny.
 The probation system has been found to be cost-effective. A Social Justice study says that while it costs '200 per person per day for incarceration, probation costs are only '20 per day. Further, an ‘unlocked’ jail term ensures that the convict will not have to live with the stigma of being a jailbird even after he has served his sentence.
 Significantly, an accused granted probation will not lose his/her job and, unlike a jailbaird, will be eligible to write competitive examinations.