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Our Bureau

Hyderabad, Aug. 23 Convicts in Andhra Pradesh will soon have an option – to serve a drab, punitive and secluded jail term, or community service a few hours a day, while staying with their families.

In vogue in some Western countries, the community service is a non-custodial punishment counted in hours. Courts award these punishments that range from traffic control to removal of graffiti on the roadside walls and renovation of care homes for the aged.

While allowing the convicts to stay with their family, the community service punishments are aimed at channeling their energies for the social good.

The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has cleared a draft Bill on Community Services of Offenders Act, which is aimed at reforming offenders by making them work for public causes.

According to Mr Anam Rama Narayana Reddy, Minister for Information and Public Relations, the new Act is applicable to convicts who attract jail terms of less than one year.

Welcoming the move, Prof Madabhushi Sridhar of NALSAR University of Law, said it would go a long way in reforming the prisoners.

Citing examples where even celebrities in the West were made to serve the public, he said the punishments included sweeping roads.

“They count the punishment in hours and value of the work,” he said.

The Andhra Pradesh Government will set up a State Community Service Committee that will be headed by a High Court judge. The judge will supervise, monitor and implement the community service activity.

More Stories on : Social Welfare | Policy | Andhra Pradesh

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