NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir Police will now monitor all terror-accused out on bail with the help of a GPS tracker device fitted on their anklet, reports Bharti Jain. This is a first in the country, as per J&K Police officials.
Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, an operative linked to Hizbul Mujahideen and other terror outfits and accused in a 2007 terror financing case, on Saturday became the first such accused to wear the anklet tracker, as per an order passed by the Special NIAcourt in Jammu while approving his interim bail.Sources said the consent of Bhat, convicted earlier in an NIA terror case in which he has already served his full sentence of 12 years and now an undertrial in a terror finance case registered in Udhampur, to wear the device was recorded by the court.
While GPS trackers are in use in countries such as the US, UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to monitor the movement of accused persons on bail, parole and house arrest, there existed no such provision in India.
Given the stringent bail provisions under UAPA, courts usually avoid giving bail to those accused under the law, fearing they may jump bail. This invariably leads to congestion of prisons.
A government officer said J&K Police is the pioneering police department to provide for GPS tracker anklets to persons on bail. This may be done in terrorism and narcotics-related cases.
Incidentally, the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs had, in its report dated August 24, 2023, on prison reforms, suggested exploring technology to produce cost-effective bracelet or anklet trackers for prisoners on bail.
Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, an operative linked to Hizbul Mujahideen and other terror outfits and accused in a 2007 terror financing case, on Saturday became the first such accused to wear the anklet tracker, as per an order passed by the Special NIAcourt in Jammu while approving his interim bail.Sources said the consent of Bhat, convicted earlier in an NIA terror case in which he has already served his full sentence of 12 years and now an undertrial in a terror finance case registered in Udhampur, to wear the device was recorded by the court.
While GPS trackers are in use in countries such as the US, UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to monitor the movement of accused persons on bail, parole and house arrest, there existed no such provision in India.
Given the stringent bail provisions under UAPA, courts usually avoid giving bail to those accused under the law, fearing they may jump bail. This invariably leads to congestion of prisons.
A government officer said J&K Police is the pioneering police department to provide for GPS tracker anklets to persons on bail. This may be done in terrorism and narcotics-related cases.
Incidentally, the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs had, in its report dated August 24, 2023, on prison reforms, suggested exploring technology to produce cost-effective bracelet or anklet trackers for prisoners on bail.