TMI Blog2016 (2) TMI 1276X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... provides: No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The sum and substance of the discussion is that prisoners, like all human beings, deserve to be treated with dignity. To give effect to this, some positive directions need to be issued by this Court - necessary directions were passed. - Writ Petition (Civil) No. 406/2013 - - - Dated:- 5-2-2016 - Madan B. Lokur And R.K. Agrawal, JJ. For the Appellant : Gaurav Agrawal, Adv., (A.C.) For the Respondent : Sushma Suri, Adv. ORDER Madan B. Lokur, J. 1. Prison reforms have been the subject matter of discussion and decisions rendered by this Court from time to time over the last 35 years. Unfortunately, even though Article 21 of the Constitution requires a life of dignity for all persons, little appears to have changed on the ground as far as prisoners are concerned and we are once again required to deal with issues relating to prisons in the country and their reform. 2. As far back as in 1980, this Court had occasion to deal with the rights of prisoners in Sunil Batra (II) v. Delhi Administration (1980) 3 SCC 488. In that decision, this Court gave a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... advocated a therapeutic approach in dealing with the criminal tendencies of prisoners. It was pointed out that there could be several factors that lead a prisoner to commit a crime but nevertheless a prisoner is required to be treated as a human being entitled to all the basic human rights, human dignity and human sympathy. It was pointed out that it is this philosophy that has persuaded this Court in a series of decisions to project the need for prison reforms. This is what this Court had to say: The therapeutic approach aims at curing the criminal tendencies which were the product of a diseased psychology. There may be many factors, including family problems. We are not concerned with those factors as therapeutic approach has since been treated as an effective method of punishment which not only satisfies the requirements of law that a criminal should be punished and the punishment prescribed must be meted out to him, but also reforms the criminal through various processes, the most fundamental of which is that in spite of having committed a crime, maybe a heinous crime, he should be treated as a human being entitled to all the basic human rights, human dignity and human sympa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ated 5th July, 2013 the letter was registered as a public interest writ petition and the Registry of this Court was directed to take steps to issue notice to the appropriate authorities after obtaining a list from the office of the learned Attorney General. 10. In reply to the notice issued by this Court, several States and Union Territories gave their response either in the form of communications addressed to the Registry of this Court or in the form of affidavits. It is not necessary for us to detail each of the responses. Suffice it to say that on the four issues raised by Justice R.C. Lahoti there is general consensus that the prisons (both Central and District) are over-crowded, some unnatural deaths have taken place in some prisons, there is generally a shortage of staff and it is not as if all of them are adequately and suitably trained to handle issues relating to the management of prisons and prisoners and finally that steps have been taken for the reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners. However, a closer scrutiny of the responses received indicates that by and large the steps taken are facile and lack adequate sincerity in implementation. 11. In view of the abo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al data could be centrally aggregated. It was stated in the affidavit that a draft project report was being prepared through a project management consultancy so that an e-prisons application could be rolled out with integrated information in all States and Union Territories comprehensively for better monitoring of the status of prisoners, particularly undertrial prisoners. 14. In response to the first issue, it was pointed out in the affidavit in the form of a tabular statement that funds were made available under the 13th Finance Commission for the improvement of conditions in prisons in respect of several States. We are surprised that no grant was allotted in as many as 19 States and in the States where grants were allotted, the utilization was less than 100%, except in the State of Tripura. 15. With regard to the grant under the 14th Finance Commission, it was stated that the 14th Finance Commission had reported that the States have the appropriate fiscal space to provide for the additional expenditure needs as per their requirements. The 14th Finance Commission did not make any specific fund allocation in favour of the Central Government but the States had projected their ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . It was also suggested that steps be taken to utilize the provisions of plea bargaining, the establishment of fast track courts, holding of Lok Adalats and ensuring adequate means for the production of the accused before the Court directly or through video conferencing. 18. Yet another letter was sent to the Director General of Prisons of all States/Union Territories on 22nd September, 2014 by the Ministry of Home Affairs drawing attention to the directions of this Court in Bhim Singh v. Union of India dated 5th September, 2014 relating to Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure and to take necessary steps to comply with the orders passed by this Court. 19. In a similar vein, yet another advisory was issued by the Government of India on 27th September, 2014. It was averred in the affidavit that as a result of these advisories and communications, some undertrial prisoners have been released in implementation of the provisions of Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure 20. With regard to the fourth issue concerning the effective implementation of Section 436 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the affidavit stated that an advisory was issued way back on 9th May ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 23rd April, 2015 and have heard learned Counsel. The admitted position is 67% of all the prisoners in jails are under trial prisoners. This is an extremely high percentage and the number of such prisoners is said to be about 2,78,000 as on 31st December, 2013. Keeping this in mind and the various suggestions that have been made in the affidavit, we are of the view that the following directions need to be issued: 1. A Prisoners Management System (a sort of Management Information System) has been in use in Tihar Jail for quite some time, as stated in the affidavit. The Ministry of Home Affairs should carefully study this application software and get back to us on the next date of hearing with any suggestions or modifications in this regard, so that the software can be improved and then deployed in other jails all over the country, if necessary. 2. We would like the assistance of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) in this matter of crucial importance concerning prisoners in the country. We direct the Member Secretary of NALSA to appoint a senior judicial officer as the nodal officer to assist us and deal with the issues that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... unable to furnish bail and are still in custody for that reason. From the figures that have been annexed to the affidavit filed by the Ministry, we find that there are a large number of such prisoners who are continuing in custody only because of their poverty. This is certainly not the spirit of the law and poverty cannot be a ground for incarcerating a person. As per the figures provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, in the State of Uttar Pradesh, there are as many as 530 such persons. The State Legal Services Authorities should instruct the panel lawyers to urgently meet such prisoners, discuss the case with them and move appropriate applications before the appropriate court for release of such persons unless they are required in custody for some other purposes. 7. There are a large number of compoundable offences for which persons are in custody. No attempt seems to have been made to compound those offences and instead the alleged offender has been incarcerated. The State Legal Services Authorities are directed, through the Member Secretary of NALSA to urgently take up the issue with the panel lawyers so that wherever the offences can be compounded, immediate steps should ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r prison software applications that had been developed by (i) National Informatics Centre (ii) Goa Electronic Ltd. (iii) Gujarat Government through TCS and (iv) Phoenix for Prison Management System in Haryana. The various applications would be evaluated and discussed in a conference of the Director General (Prisons)/Inspector General (Prisons) to be held on 20th August, 2015. 30. The compliance report also indicated a break-up of the meetings of the Under Trial Review Committees that had been set up in the various States and that reports of the meeting that were directed to be held on or about 30th June, 2015 were still awaited from a few States and Union Territories. 31. As regards the Model Prison Manual it was submitted that a draft had been prepared and was circulated for comments and a further meeting was scheduled to be held in August, 2015 to finalize the draft. 32. With regard to the cases of undertrial prisoners who were unable to furnish bail bonds it was stated that as many as 3470 such persons were in custody due to their inability to furnish bail bonds and a maximum number of such undertrial prisoners were in the State of Maharashtra, that is, 797 undertrial p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... committee should also have the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority as one of the members of the Committee. The Ministry of Home Affairs will issue a necessary order in this regard to the Superintendent of Police to associate the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority in such meetings. It is stated that so far as a software for the prisoners is concerned, the Ministry of Home Affairs has appointed a Project Management Consultant and at present there are four kinds of software in existence in the country with regard to prison management. It is stated that a meeting will be held on 20th August, 2015 with the Director General (Prisons)/Inspector General (Prisons) to evaluate the existing application software. We expect an early decision in the matter and early implementation of the decision that is taken. It is stated that a Model Prison Manual is being looked into since the earlier Manual was of considerable vintage. We are told that a meeting is likely to be held towards the end of this month to finalize the Model Prison Manual. Learned ASG is unable to inform us about the composition of the Committee that is looking into the Model Prison Manua ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le offences, should be released. This was entirely for the Under Trial Review Committee to decide and there was no direction given for release in this regard. 39. With regard to the large number of undertrial prisoners in Maharashtra who were entitled to bail, it was submitted that out of 797 such undertrial prisoners nearly 503 had been released and that steps were being taken with regard to the remaining undertrial prisoners. 40. The order passed by the Social Justice Bench on 18th September, 2015 reads as follows: This petition pertains to what has been described as inhuman conditions in 1382 prisons across the country. On our request, Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, Advocate has agreed to assist us in the matter as Amicus Curiae since the complaint was received by Post. The Registry should give a copy each of all the documents in this matter to Mr. Gaurav Agrawal. Learned Additional Solicitor General has drawn our attention to the order dated 7th August, 2015 and in compliance thereof he has stated that the Ministry of Home Affairs has written to the Directors General of all the States/Union Territories on 14th August, 2015 to ensure that the Secretary of the District Legal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on who has completed half the period of his sentence, in the case of multiple offences, should be released. This is entirely for the Under Trial Review Committee and the competent authority to decide and there is absolutely no direction given by this Court for release of such under trials. Their case will have to be considered by the Under Trial Review Committee and the competent authority in accordance with law. Mr. Rajesh Kumar Goel, Director, NALSA says that steps are being taken to appoint an adequate number of panel lawyers. With reference to the release of under trial prisoners, he says that in the State of Maharashtra, as per the information available, 797 under trial prisoners were entitled to bail and with the efforts of the State Legal Services Authority, nearly 503 have since been released. Steps are being taken with regard to the remaining under trial prisoners. Mr. Rajesh Kumar Goel, Director, NALSA says that the Member Secretaries of the State Legal Services Authority will be advised to compile relevant information with regard to the cases of compoundable offences pending in the States so that they can also be disposed of at the earliest. We expect the States ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... very seriously with all the State Governments and the Union Territories and it will be ensured that the meetings are regularly held in terms of the Advisories given by the Ministry of Home Affairs at least once in every three months. Learned Counsel for the Union of India also says that the latest status report will be filed in the second week of January, 2016. In the meanwhile, learned amicus curiae informs us that the Under Trial Review Committee has been set up in every District and a representative of the District Legal Services Authority has been included in all the Under Trial Review Committees and, therefore, to this extent the order dated 18th September, 2015 has been complied with. List the matter on 29th January, 2016. We make it clear that learned Counsel for the Union of India should be fully briefed in all aspects of the case. 45. In compliance with the order passed on 16th October, 2015 an affidavit dated 22nd January, 2016 was filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in which it was stated that a detailed evaluation of the software for the e-Prisons Project had been completed and guidelines had also been circulated to all the States for their proposals and f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... taken for the release of undertrial prisoners particularly in the State of Uttar Pradesh and the State of Maharashtra and wherever necessary, the number of panel lawyers associated with the State Legal Services Authority/District Legal Services Committee were required to be increased to meet the requirement of early release of undertrial prisoners and prisoners who remain in custody due to their poverty and inability to furnish bail bonds. In addition, it was pointed out that steps should be taken to ensure that wherever persons are in custody under offences that are compoundable, steps should be taken to compound the offences so that overcrowding in jails is reduced. 51. Has anything changed on the ground? The prison statistics available as on 31st December, 2014 from the website of the NCRB 2http://ncrb.nic.in indicate that as far as overcrowding is concerned, there is no perceptible change and in fact the problem of overcrowding has perhaps been accentuated with the passage of time. The figures in this regard are as follows: Central Jails District Jails Capacity 1,52,312 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate an unflagging commitment to human dignity. It is that commitment to human dignity that will, in the end, be the essential underpinning of any endeavor to transform prison cultures. The Mess We're In: Five Steps Towards the Transformation of Prison Cultures by Lynn S. Branham, Indiana Law Review, Vol. 44, p. 703, 2011 56. The sum and substance of the aforesaid discussion is that prisoners, like all human beings, deserve to be treated with dignity. To give effect to this, some positive directions need to be issued by this Court and these are as follows: 1. The Under Trial Review Committee in every district should meet every quarter and the first such meeting should take place on or before 31st March, 2016. The Secretary of the District Legal Services Committee should attend each meeting of the Under Trial Review Committee and follow up the discussions with appropriate steps for the release of undertrial prisoners and convicts who have undergone their sentence or are entitled to release because of remission granted to them. 2. The Under Trial Review Committee should specifically look into aspects pertaining to effective implementation of Section 436 of the Code of Cri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e said Manual. We direct accordingly. 57. A word about the Model Prison Manual is necessary. It is a detailed document consisting of as many as 32 chapters that deal with a variety of issues including custodial management, medical care, education of prisoners, vocational training and skill development programmes, legal aid, welfare of prisoners, after care and rehabilitation, Board of Visitors, prison computerization and so on and so forth. It is a composite document that needs to be implemented with due seriousness and dispatch. 58. Taking a cue from the efforts of the Ministry of Home Affairs in preparing the Model Prison Manual, it appears advisable and necessary to ensure that a similar manual is prepared in respect of juveniles who are in custody either in Observation Homes or Special Homes or Places of Safety in terms of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. 59. Accordingly, we issue notice to the Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, returnable on 14th March, 2016. The purpose of issuance of notice to the said Ministry is to require a manual to be prepared by the said Ministry that will take into cons ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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