In a first, the Gujarat high court has launched an online bail application system, made available to all convicts and undertrial prisoners of Sabarmati Central jail from Monday.

"Acting chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya inaugurated the pilot project yesterday and it is now operational through the Gujarat high court's website," said G R Udhwani, the registrar general of the HC.

The HC has mooted the idea of Internet-based bail application to reduce the processing time it used to take, Udhwani said.

The IT department of the HC has developed a special software for the purpose. In a phased manner, the old system of paper-based applications for bail, parole or furlough will be replaced by online system across the state, he added.

As a pilot project, the facility has been made available to the inmates of Sabarmati Central jail in Ahmedabad.

Any undertrial/convict seeking bail has to submit his application to jail superintendent, who would file online application on his/her behalf. Every application will have a unique username and password to check the status.

"Inmates used to send us their applications in post, which usually takes 4-10 days to reach HC registry. Sometimes if bail is sought for emergency reasons, it comes for hearing very late and renders the application futile," Udhwani said.

But with new system in place, inmates' applications will be sent to the HC registry on the same day and registry will put them up for adjudication before the concerned bench within 48 hours of the receipt, he added.

On an average, the Gujarat high court registry gets 50 bail applications everyday from undertrials and/or convicts from the different jails of the state through post, he said.