New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre and 11 state governments on a plea seeking directions to curb caste-based discrimination in prisons and manual work being allocated to them based on different castes.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said it's a serious issue and sought responses from various governments.
The bench issued notice to the Centre, Academy of Prisons and Correctional Administration, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra.
Senior advocate S Murlidhar, appearing for journalist Sukanya Shantha, told the bench that there are cases where Dalits are in separate prisons and some other castes are in different areas.
"Such caste-based discrimination is there from the time one steps into the prison," he said.
"Issue notice to the Union and the State governments. Liberty to serve the standing counsels. Union to entrust a law officer to assist the court," the bench ordered.
CJI Chandrachud told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was present in the courtroom, that this is a very important issue that has been raised.
Mehta replied that "this cannot be accepted" and he will look into the issue.
The plea filed through advocate Prasanna S sought to challenge the various discriminatory provisions of the Prison Manuals and Rules for being ultra vires to Articles 14, 15, 17, and 23 of the Constitution of India.
It sought the issuance of specific guidelines or directions in respect of caste-based division of labour in the various state prison manuals.
"If we look at the demographic composition of the prison population in India, it is revealed that there is an over-representation of the marginalised sections of society in Indian prisons. As these communities are unable to access legal aid, their time in prison is prolonged. When at the prison, they face a cruel and unequal administration tracing its origins to a colonial hangover," the plea added.
It sought direction to bring the prison manuals and rules administered by them to repeal all provisions that either segregate or discriminate against prisoners or the work assigned to them based on caste, belonging to denotified tribes or being 'habitual offenders' and bring such manuals and rules in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution of India.
"Direct all the respondents to undertake strong action to prevent the persistence of forced caste-based labour and segregation in prisons," the plea sought.
It further sought direction for states to take steps to ensure proactive disclosure of prison manuals through greater digitization of the state prison manual on the website of respective home departments and to undertake regular printing of prison manuals to be readily available.
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