In Re-Inhuman Conditions In 1382 Prisons vs. Director General Of Prisons And Correctional Services
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Order Issued After Hearing
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Listed On:
24 Jun 2013
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Order Text
| ITEM NO.306 | COURT NO.9 | SECTION PIL(W) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S U P R E M E C O U R T O F | RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS | I N D I A | |||||
| Writ Petition(s)(Civil) | No(s).406/2013 | ||||||
| RE-INHUMAN CONDITIONS IN 1382 PRISONS | |||||||
| (With appln.(s) for exemption from filing O.T.) | |||||||
| Date : 18/09/2015 This petition was called on for hearing today. | |||||||
| CORAM : | HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MADAN B. LOKUR<br>HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE UDAY UMESH LALIT | ||||||
| For Petitioner(s) | By Post | ||||||
| Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, Adv. (A.C.) | |||||||
| For Respondent(s) | Mr.<br>Ms.<br>Mr.<br>Ms. | Binu Tamta, Adv.<br>R.M. Bajaj, Adv.<br>Sushma Suri, AOR | Neeraj Kishan Kaul, ASG | ||||
| NALSA | Mr. Rajesh Kumar Goel, Director, NALSA | ||||||
| UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following<br>O R D E R<br>This petition pertains to what has been described as<br>inhuman conditions in 1382 prisons across the country. | |||||||
| On<br>our | request, | Mr. | Gaurav | Agrawal, | Advocate | has | |
| agreed to assist us in the matter as Amicus Curiae since | |||||||
| Signature Not Verified | the complaint was received by Post. | The Registry should | |||||
| Digitally signed by<br>Sanjay Kumar<br>Date: 2015.09.21<br>17:26:29 IST<br>Reason: | give a copy each of all the documents in this matter to | ||||||
| Mr. Gaurav Agrawal. | 2 | ||||||
| Learned Additional Solicitor General has drawn our | |||||||
| attention<br>to | the<br>order | dated | 7th | August, | 2015 | and<br>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 Services Committee is included as a member in the Under Trial Review Committee. A similar letter was written by NALSA on 11th August, 2015. NALSA should follow up on this and ensure that it is effectively represented in the Under Trial Review Committee.
It is not yet clear whether the Under Trial Review Committee has been set up in every District. Learned Additional Solicitor General and Mr. Rajesh Kumar Goel, Director, NALSA will look into this and let us know the progress on the next date of hearing.
As far as the software for Prison Management is concerned, it is stated by the learned Additional Solicitor General that all the Directors General of Police have been asked to intimate which of the four available software is acceptable to them. He further states that the software will be integrated on the cloud so that all information can be made available regardless of which software is being utilized. He expects the needful to be done within a period of about two months. 3
We expect the Directors General of Police in every State/Union Territory to respond expeditiously to any request made by the Ministry of Home Affairs in this regard.
With regard to the Model Prison Manual of 2003, it is stated by the learned Additional Solicitor General that meetings have been held in this regard and it is expected that the Model Prison Manual will be made available by sometime in the middle of December, 2015. He states that people from academia as well as NGOs are associated in the project. It is expected that the Prison Manual will
also take care of establishing a creche in respect of women prisoners who have children.
With regard to the release of under trial prisoners, particularly in the States of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, as mentioned in our order dated 24 th April, 2015, learned Additional Solicitor General says that at the present moment he does not have any instructions in this regard, but the Ministry of Home Affairs will write to the State Governments/Union Territories to take urgent steps in terms of our orders.
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Goel, Director, NALSA says that legal aid lawyers have been instructed to take steps for the possible release of under trial prisoners in accordance with law. 4
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Goel has also drawn our attention to paragraph 4 of the order dated 24 th April, 2015. We make it clear that there is no mandate that a person 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 5
the States so that they can also be disposed of at the earliest. We expect the States of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to expeditiously respond to the letter written by NALSA since the maximum number of cases pertaining to compoundable offences are pending in these States.
List the matter on 16th October, 2015.
(SANJAY KUMAR-I) (MALA KUMARI SHARMA) COURT MASTER COURT MASTER