Bail is a norm, jail is an exception. In case someone is kept under prison bar, the right to life and personal liberty is not an exception to any. E- Mulakat is one such blessing for the prisoners and their families.
It was in the Covid phase, and nearly for eight months, all the prisoners were barred from meeting their families. Generally, a family of an undertrial inmate have an opportunity to personally meet the individual once a week and the convict once in 15 days.
To strengthen the emotional well-being of the prisoner, E-Mulakat a video calling facility came out as a boon in many Indian states. A family of a prisoner who is unable to meet his/her family in prison due to various reasons can make use of the E-mulakat system, through which a ten minutes interaction with the family is possible. Under this system, a request is made by the family of the inmate by registering through the website providing basic information and then waiting for approval from the jail authority.
Like any other provision, the E-mulakat system too is least known among the people. The family of the inmate have to travel a long distance, wait for hours in queue sometimes half a day and finally get an opportunity to see through a glassed wall and interact through the intercom. Through the E-mulakat not only a video call but also a pre-booking for a physical meet is done online, reducing the entry time taken for manual in-person registration.
The loopholes like no on-time response by the authority, lack of public awareness regarding the facility and negligence within the administration on the smooth functioning of the website and its working system too is not easily accessible in the public domain. But no doubt, the optimum functioning and utilisation of the system sets the best example for a model prison with an adaptation of modernised and progressive ideas.
The link to avail the service: https://eprisons.nic.in/Public/MyVisitRegistration
In case of issues regarding the date/status/Approval of your request, connect to: cpblr.prisons-kar@gov.in
