Bombay High Court
Sunil Devnarayan Singh @ Papa vs The State Of Maharashtra on 8 September, 2016
Bench: V.K. Tahilramani
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RMA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. 2922 OF 2016
Sunil Devnarayan Singh @ Papa
Age : 32 Years, Occ. : Nil,
R/o. Shivaji Nagar, Mumbai.
At present confined at
Convict No. C/10322,
Nashik Road Central Prison, Nashik. .. Petitioner
Versus
The State of Maharashtra
At the instance of the Dy. Inspector
General of Prisons, Central Region,
Aurangabad. .. Respondent
...................
Appearances
Mr. Hitesh P. Shah Advocate for the Petitioner
Mr. H.J. Dedia APP for the State
...................
CORAM : SMT. V.K. TAHILRAMANI &
MRS. MRIDULA BHATKAR, JJ.
DATE : SEPTEMBER 8, 2016.
ORAL JUDGMENT : [PER SMT. V.K.TAHILRAMANI, J. ]:
1 Heard both sides. Rule. By consent, rule is made
returnable forthwith.
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2 This petition has been preferred by the petitioner
against the transfer of the petitioner from Nasik Road Central
Prison, Nasik to Yerawada Central Prison, Pune.
3 The reason for the transfer is that on 8.12.2015 and
9.12.2015 many convicts had gone on hunger strike in Nasik
Road Central Prison making various demands viz.:-
"(1) That the Superintendent should recommend
all the Furlough and Parole Leave of the Prisoners;
(2) That the furlough and parole leaves should
not be rejected by the D.I.G. / Divisional
Commissioner, not to put stringent conditions while
releasing on parole or furlough, the prisoners
should be released on furlough / parole on personal
bonds;
(3) That punishment should not be imposed on
account of overstay of parole or furlough;
(4) That FIR should not be registered under
Section 224 of IPC if a prisoner absconds or does
not surrender in time after being released on parole
or furlough;
(5) That availability of Police Squad should be
made daily for taking Prisoners to General Hospital,
outside the jail;
(6) That at the time of visit of the relatives of
the Prisoners, who bring along with them eatables
and other articles, they should be allowed to enter
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directly from the Main gate of the Prison and they
should not be prevented;
(7) That no action should be taken against the
prisoners for heating the food items (to make
Handi) in Barracks;
(8) Meals provided in jail are not of good
quality".
4 Prisoners are prohibited to indulge in such type of
illegal activities like strike, hence, the prisoners were
informed that in view of the Rules and Regulations,
ig they
should not indulge in such kind of illegal activities and they
are required to maintain discipline in the jail. On 9.12.2015,
D.I.G. Prison, Central Region, Aurangabad visited Nasik Road
Central Prison and had a discussion with the prisoners and
tried to convince them that they should not indulge in such
kind of illegal activities and should not try to put pressure on
the administration of the jail. On the same day, majority of
the prisoners called off the hunger strike. However, it was
noticed that about 25 prisoners including the petitioner, were
instigating the other prisoners who were involved in the said
incident, hence, a proposal was sent through the Deputy
Inspector General of Prisons, Central Region Aurangabad to
the Inspector General of Prisons for granting sanction to
transfer these 25 prisoners including the petitioner to
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another prison. By order dated 17.6.2016, 25 prisoners were
ordered to be transferred to various prisons in Maharashtra.
The petitioner is one of these 25 prisoners.
5 Removal of prisoners to another prison is dealt with in
Chapter XXXV of the Maharashtra Prison Manual 1979. Rule
3 sets out the circumstances of removal of prisoners. Rule 3
(g) in the said Chapter, reads as under:
"3. Prisoners may be removed from one prison to
another prison in the State for the following
reasons, that is to say:-
(a) ...
(b) ...
(c) ...
(d) ...
(e) ...
(f) ...
(g) grounds of security, expediency or
overcrowding in prisons."
The petitioner and other prisoners are being transferred
to another prison in view of Rule 3(g). Security is an issue
which is of utmost importance in a prison. The conduct of
the petitioner is such that it causes security concerns and it
is also expedient to transfer such prisoners to maintain
prison discipline. Even otherwise the demands of the
prisoners were untenable for the below mentioned reasons.
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6 As far as the demands of the prisoners is concerned,
the first demand could not have been at all acceded to i.e.
the Superintendent to recommend all the furlough and
parole leaves of the prisoners. Recommendation would
depend on the facts and circumstances of each case and the
conduct of the prisoner, hence, it is not possible for the
Superintendent to recommend parole and furlough leave in
all cases.
7 The next demand was that furlough and parole leaves
should not be rejected by the D.I.G. / Divisional
Commissioner and stringent conditions should not be
imposed and the prisoners should be released on furlough or
parole leave on personal bonds. Grant of parole or furlough
would depend on the police report, on the facts and
circumstances of each case and conduct of the prisoners in
the prison, hence, it is not possible for the D.I.G. / Divisional
Commissioner to grant all parole or furlough leaves.
Imposing conditions while granting furlough / parole again
depends on fact and circumstances of the case and the
record of the prisoner. As far as the demand for release of
prisoner on personal bond is concerned, the Supreme Court
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in the case of State of Maharashtra and Another Vs. Suresh
Pandurang Darvakar reported in (2006) 4 S.C.C. 776 has
disapproved the release of prisoners without surety.
8 The next demand was that punishment should not be
imposed on account of overstay. As far as imposing
punishment on account of overstay is concerned, discipline
has to be maintained in the prisons. Cases when
punishments for overstay are imposed are stated in the
Maharashtra Prison Manual.
ig A prisoner cannot flout the
conditions imposed on him, or abscond or not surrender in
time and then make a demand that no punishment shall be
imposed on him.
9 The next demand was that no F.I.R. should be
registered under Section 224 of IPC. When a prisoner is
granted parole or furlough, he is told for which period he has
been granted parole or furlough and the day on which he has
to surrender to the jail authorities. If the prisoner does not
surrender in time and he has absconded, F.I.R. is registered
against the said prisoner under Section 224 of IPC. The
prisoner cannot demand that law should not be allowed to
take its own course.
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10 The next demand was that availability of police squad
should be made daily for taking prisoners to the General
hospital or outside the jail. As far as this demand is
concerned, the prison authorities have no control over the
police authorities. It is the police authorities who provide
squad / escort to take the prisoners to various places. The
jail authorities can only make a requisition to the concerned
police department and the job of providing escort is totally of
the police and the prison administration has no control over
the same, hence, this demand on the prison authorities too
is unreasonable.
11 The next demand was that at the time of visit of the
relatives of the prisoners who bring along with them eatables
and other articles, they should be allowed to take them
directly inside the prison without being prevented or
checked. As far as this aspect is concerned, visitors could
bring any drugs or other articles like weapons, mobile
phones etc. and give it to the prisoner, obviously, in such
case, looking to the security and discipline of the prison,
there has to be a check and only permitted articles can be
allowed to be taken inside the prison for which checking is
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necessary, hence, this demand is also unreasonable.
12 One more ground was that no action to be taken
against the prisoners for heating the food items in the
Barracks. Rule 43 under Chapter XXIV of the Maharashtra
Prison Manual 1979 which deals with cooking in kitchen
only, states that no chula or fire-place for cooking shall be
allowed to be constructed in any part of the prison other
than the kitchen, except under special circumstances which
shall be reported by the Superintendent to the Regional
Deputy Inspector General. Moreover, lighting a fire in the
barracks for heating food or cooking food would be
hazardous for various reasons.
13 In addition to the above demands, the grievance was
that the food provided in the jail is not of good quality. As
far as this aspect is concerned, the food given to the
prisoners is checked by Chief Medical Officer of Nashik Road
Central Prison. Apart from that the said food items are
checked by the Panchas who have been nominated by the
Prisons for the said purpose. The Superintendent, Senior
Jailor and incharge of the Kitchen also check the quality of
the food meals. Further during surprise visit by the District
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Judge, Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, they also check
the quality of food items from time to time and no such
complaints of inferior quality of food items have been
received from the prisoners so far. Thus it is seen that as far
as quality of food provided in prison is concerned, there are
sufficient checks.
14 It is seen that the group of prisoners including the
petitioner had formed unlawful assembly and went on
hunger strike by taking no meals on account of various
demands and thereby held the prison administration to
ransom. As observed earlier these demands were all highly
unreasonable. It is seen that the prisoners deliberately
flouted and tried to disturb the peace and discipline in the
prison, hence, in view of Rule 3 of Chapter XXXV of the
Maharashtra Prison Manual 1979 on grounds of security and
expediency, the prisoners are liable to be transferred and
accordingly, they have been transferred.
15 Security, peace and discipline in a prison are of
paramount importance. They have to be maintained at all
costs. Rule 13(2) of Chapter XXVI of the Maharashtra Prison
Manual, 1979 deals with duties of the prisoners. Every
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prisoner is required to comply with their duty stated in
Chapter XXVI which includes to show respect to all officers,
not strike or assault or threaten any officer or any person in
prison. This is set out in Rule 13(q) of Chapter XXVI of the
Maharashtra Prison Manual, 1979. The petitioner by going
on hunger strike has violated Rule 13(q) of Chapter XXVI,
hence, authorities were well within their right to transfer the
petitioner to another prison.
Though earlier the petitioner was transferred from
Nasik Road Central Prison, Nasik to Kolhapur Central Prison,
Kalamba, thereafter, by order dated 7.9.2016, the petitioner
has been transferred to Yerwada Central Prison, Pune. The
family of the petitioner resides in Mumbai and Pune is at a
distance of less than three hours from Mumbai whereas, the
distance between Nasik and Mumbai is more than four
hours. Thus transfer to Yerawada Central Prison would be
more beneficial to the petitioner.
17 In view of the above facts, we are not inclined to
interfere, hence, Rule is discharged. Petition is dismissed.
[ MRS. MRIDULA BHATKAR, J ] [ SMT. V.K. TAHILRAMANI, J. ]
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