Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Community service for jail inmates mooted

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD Feb. 7. The State Government is contemplating introducing a law that provides an opportunity for people who commit minor offences to take punishment by way of community service instead of serving a jail term.

Describing it as the first-ever experiment in the country, the Home Minister, T. Devender Goud, said the proposal was part of the ongoing prison reforms in the State. "Instead of sending a person to jail for a minor offence, he or she can be given the option of compensating society by working for it," he said.

Releasing the draft of the Andhra Pradesh Community Services of Offenders Act, 2003, at a press conference here today, the Home Minister announced that a workshop would be organised on February 9 and 10 in Hyderabad inviting opinions on the proposed law.

After incorporating the changes suggested at the workshop, the bill would be introduced in the next Assembly session. Mr. Goud observed that a similar system was being successfully implemented in countries like America, England, Germany, Netherlands, France and Zimbabwe. The State Government was inspired by the campaign of the Paris-based Non-Governmental Organisation --Penal Reforms International (PRI) -- in this regard, he said.

``We thought the law was imperative going by the fact 44,000 prisoners were sentenced in minor offences,'' Mr. Goud observed. Another factor was that Rs. 57,000 average expenditure per year was being incurred by the Government on each prisoner. However, more than the monetary considerations the penal reforms were the main reason behind the new law.

As per the draft proposals, a State Community Service Committee with a High Court Judge (to be nominated by the HC Chief Justice) as its Chairman and the Secretary, Department of Law, State Government, as Secretary-cum-Convener would be constituted. The Home Secretary (prisons), Director of Prosecutions, DG of Prisons, Commissioner for Juvenile Welfare, one representative of any NGO working in the State and two reputed social workers from the State would be the other members of the Committee.

When a person (above 18 years of age) is convicted for a minor offence punishable with one-year term, the concerned Court give an option to the convict to perform community service at a specified place without any remuneration in cash or kind. However, the consent of the offender is a must for passing the community service order.

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