SC expands scope of committee to address aspects relating to women prisoners

The Supreme Court on Friday expanded the scope of the district level committees, which it has ordered to be constituted to assess the infrastructure and current capacity of jails across the country, so that issues related to women prisoners are addressed holistically.The apex court, which had last week taken cognisance of the allegation about several women prisoners in West Bengal getting pregnant while in jail, said the senior most lady judicial officer in the district may be included in the panel.

The Supreme Court on Friday expanded the scope of the district level committees, which it has ordered to be constituted to assess the infrastructure and current capacity of jails across the country, so that issues related to women prisoners are addressed holistically.

The apex court, which had last week taken cognisance of the allegation about several women prisoners in West Bengal getting pregnant while in jail, said the senior most lady judicial officer in the district may be included in the panel. A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, which is hearing a matter titled 'Inhuman conditions in 1,382 prisons', had on January 30 issued directions for constituting a committee in each district in every state and Union Territory (UT) for assessing the available infrastructure in jails and take a decision on the number of additional prisons to be constructed.

It had directed each state and UT to set up a committee comprising principal/district judge, district magistrate, senior superintendent/superintendent of police, secretary of the District Legal Services Authority and jail superintendent.

During the hearing on Friday, senior advocate Gaurav Agrawal, who is assisting the top court as an amicus curiae in the matter, told the bench about the details received by him from the Additional Director General and Inspector General, Correctional Services, West Bengal, regarding children born to women prisoners while in custody.

Agrawal referred to an application filed by him in which he has said that as per the details received from West Bengal authorities, 62 babies were born in the state jails over the last four years and most of the women inmates who gave birth to them were expecting when brought to prison.

''Quite a few carried pregnancy when they came (to jails),'' the bench observed while referring to the application.

The bench was informed that only female staff were deployed in women's jails or barracks in the state and there are CCTV cameras all across the prisons.

''In spite of this, if something is happening then it is worse,'' the bench said.

The amicus also referred to the aspects of hygiene, security measures, health care infrastructure and welfare of women prisoners.

The bench sought responses from all the states and UTs on the issues raised by the amicus in his application for directions and posted it for hearing on April 9.

Agarwal said superintendent and staff of women's jails must be female.

''The undersigned has received information from ADG & IG correctional services, West Bengal on February 10, 2024 at 5:32 pm for last 4 years of all child births in the jails in West Bengal, which indicates that there were 62 children born in the jails in West Bengal during the last 4 years,'' he said in the application.

''It appears that most of the women prisoners were already expecting at the time when they were brought to the jails. In some cases, the women prisoners had gone out on parole and returned back expecting,'' the amicus said.

In his application, he said there was a need for complete security audit of the jails and barracks for women across the country. Women prisoners, he said, should be medically examined at the time of admission followed by health check-up at regular intervals.

The apex court had on February 9 taken cognisance of the allegations about women inmates getting pregnant in West Bengal prisons, and asked Agrawal to look into it and submit a report.

The Calcutta High Court had on February 8 ordered the transfer of a related matter to a criminal division bench after the amicus curiae there claimed some women prisoners lodged in West Bengal's correctional homes had got pregnant while in jail and 196 babies were born.

Lawyer Tapas Kumar Bhanja, who was appointed as an amicus curiae by the high court in a 2018 suo motu motion on overcrowding in prisons, had submitted a note on related issues and his suggestions before a division bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam.

Bhanja had suggested barring male employees of correctional homes from entering into enclosures meant for women prisoners.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)