Panel for electronic tagging to ease jails

New Delhi, May 24

The Law Commission today recommended “electronic tagging” of people accused of grave crimes, saying it will help reduce pressure on overcrowded jails as well as keep a check on people looking to evade the law.

The commission, however, warned that the system should only be used with the “highest degree of caution” after changing laws.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Electronic tagging has the potential to reduce both fugitive rates, by ensuring that a defendant can easily be located, and government expenditure, by reducing the number of defendants detained at state expense.

In its report to the Law Ministry on “Provisions relating to bail”, the panel quoted a New Zealand law to define electronic tagging or electronically monitored (EM) bail as a mechanism that is also known as a “restrictive” form of bail.

“A person on EM bail must remain at a specified residence unless special permission to leave is granted. Compliance is monitored via an electronically monitored anklet,” it said.  — PTI