Now, online appointment for relatives of Tihar inmates

Tihar jail will soon do away with manual prisioner-relative appointments and have an online appointment system that means prisioner's relatives could book their appointment well in advance and visit accordingly.

The idea is designed to save precious time of the relatives and decongest the visitors area in Tihar.

If you have a relative or friend lodged in Tihar jail, you might soon be booking an online appointment sitting at your home and visit the jail premises according to the time allotted to you.

"The idea is why waste time waiting for your turn to meet your kin lodged in the jail. We just thought to streamline the process and felicitate the Prisoner-Relative meetings by giving online appointments. The idea would soon be in practice." said Sudhir Yadav DG (Prisons).

The prisoner-relatives meeting time is from 8 am to 1 pm on working days.

Unaware of when their turn would come relatives walk in early morning just after sunrise to secure an appointment and have a meeting with their kin.

This practice is seen to be attracting a lot of crowd creating inconvenience for both the relatives of the prisoner and the jail staff.

An estimated 600-800 people daily meet their kin lodged in the jail. problem arises when many visit the jail and have to return the same day.

Some people travel even from far off states in the southern and eastern India. Uncertainty over time often disturbs their journey plans.

"Every prisoner is given half an hour to meet his family or friends, the new system would help visitors plan their journey well in advance to the jail, as the jail also has inmates who are from the different states in India," said Sudhir Yadav.

If the relatives of the inmates are illiterate and are unable to book an online appointment the jail authorities would also be providing them with a phone number to book an appointment.

The kin of the prisoners will be told about the new scheme and be asked to follow the procedure. Tihar, the largest prison complex in South Asia, is currently having around 13 thousand inmates.