Pune: Physical visitations in jails see significant drop after e-meet system introduced

The e-Mulakat platform is part of an e-prisons system under the Inter-Operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) of the Union Government.

The ICJS comprises a dedicated and secure cloud-based infrastructure operated by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and National Informatics Center (NIC). ICJS has five pillars including e-Prisons and Crime and Criminal Tracking and Network Systems (CCTNS) for police, e-forensics for forensic labs, e-courts for courts and e-prosecution for Public Prosecutors. Under Phase-II of ICJS, the ‘one data one entry’ method is being introduced, whereby data is entered only once in one pillar and the same is then available in all other pillars.

Prisons in Maharashtra started implementing the e-Mulakat system in July 2023 on an experimental basis and from January 2024, all the prisons in the state were given the facility. Data shared by the Maharashtra State Prison Department shows that between January 1, 2024 to February 9, 2025 a total of 3,16,647 inmates — both convicts and undertrials — availed the e-Mulakat facility as against 6,69,786 visitations that happened during the same period across 60 prisons in the state in physical mode. This means that close to a third of the total visitations have happened online over this time period.

Dr Jalindar Supekar, Special Director General of Police (Prisons and Correctional Services) said, “Our aim is to further increase the percentage of e-Mulakat meetings. For this we are making provisions for more video conferencing terminals in the prisons across the state.” Of the total e-Mulakat visitations, Yerawada Central Prison, which is the prison with the highest population, has reported over 45,000 e-Mulakat visitations during this period. Followed by Taloja Central prison and Thane Central Prison who have reported 44 thousand and 3 thousand e-Mulakat respectively during the same period. The prisons across the state currently house over 1,100 foreign prisoners for whom regular meetings with families living abroad have been possible only because of the e-Mulakat system.

Yerawada Prison Superintendent Sunil Dhamal said, “After the introduction of e-Mulakat last year, the daily count of 1,200 physical visitations at Yerawada Central Prison has reduced to around 700 per day. The others are happening via e-Mulakat. The prison administration is working on further increasing the number of e-Mulakats.”

On the National Prisons Information Portal, provided by the National Informatics Centre, family members or lawyers register here for a virtual meet. Their request for an e-Mulakat call is routed to the concerned prison administration. Prison staff then scrutinise this request and approve it if it fits all requirements. If approved, the relative or lawyer is communicated the time for the video call. In that time slot, the inmate is brought to the e-Mulakat centre.

Once on the call, the identity of the relative or lawyer is verified again and the call is put through.

Dhamal said, “e-Mulakat significantly saves time and resources for families of inmates and also for lawyers. There used to be crowding outside the prison and long waits for families but the situation is drastically changing. This system is of great help to elderly and ailing family members and also children in the family. Regular visitations from families go a long way in correctional effort because it helps inmates’ emotional well-being and reduces feelings of isolation. We have also made this information available to relatives who come for physical visitations. Our officers and teams are continuously creating awareness among the visitors. Registrations for e-Mulakat are increasing by day and we hope to see a situation where the majority of visitations are online. But still, for many accessing the e-Mulakat portal and handling phones or computers is difficult and they continue to avail physical visitations.”

Across prisons in Maharashtra, in-person visitations happen with visitors seated on one side of fortified glass talking to inmates on the other side over an intercom under staff supervision. As per the prison manual, only the immediate kin, friends and lawyers, whose names have been listed by the inmate are allowed to visit him or her. These rules are applicable to e-Mulakat meetings, which also happen under supervision of the prison staffers.