Madhuri Krishnaswami vs State Of Madhya Pradesh
2021 Latest Caselaw 6248 MP

                                                         WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020
                                             [1]

THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR MADHYA PRADESH,
                    AT JABALPUR

                                (DIVISION BENCH)

                                  WP-9320-2021 (PIL)

                                In Reference (Suo Motu)
                                             Vs.
                       The State of Madhya Pradesh & others

                                  WP-8391-2020 (PIL)

                                Madhuri Krishnaswami
                                             Vs.
                        The State of Madhya Pradesh & others
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Coram :
                 Hon'ble Mr. Justice Mohammad Rafiq, Chief Justice
                 Hon'ble Mr. Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla, Judge
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Presence :
          Mr. Sankalp Kochar, Advocate appeared as Amicus Curiae in WP-
  9320-2021.
          Mr. Chander Uday Singh, Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Bhavil
  Pandey and Ms. Aditi Pradhan, Advocates for the petitioner in WP-8391-
  2020.
          Mr. Pushpendra Yadav, Additional Advocate General for the State of
  Madhya Pradesh.
          Mr. Ajay Gupta, Advocate for the intervenor in WP-9320-2021.
          Mr. Dharmendra Singh, Member Secretary, Madhya Pradesh State
  Legal Services Authority, Jabalpur.
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Whether approved for reporting: Yes.
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Heard on : 27.09.2021
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020
                                    [2]

                               ORDER

(Passed on this 30th day of September, 2021)

Per: Mohammad Rafiq, Chief Justice

Writ Petition No.9320/2021 (PIL) was registered on suo motu

cognizance taken by this Court on 07.05.2021 in view of unprecedented

situation faced by the country following second wave of Coronavirus

(COVID-19). This Court in the aforesaid order dated 07.05.2021 had taken

cognizance of the situation of COVID-19 in prisons of the State affecting

both under-trial and convicted prisoners, particularly because all the

prisons/jails in the State were having more than double the prisoners

against their capacity and were therefore needed to be immediately

decongested. Various orders have been passed from time to time for grant

of parole to the convicts and temporary bail to the under-trial prisoners.

Writ Petition No.8391/2020 (PIL) has been filed by Madhuri

Krishnaswami highlighting the issue of overcrowding of prisons in the

State and urgent need of decongesting them. During the pendency of the

petition, Mr. Sankalp Kochar, learned Amicus Curiae inviting attention of

the Court towards pathetic condition of the prisons in the State, has given

numerous suggestions for reforms in the jails/prisons of the State.

Suggestions to this effect have also been given by Mr. Chander Uday

Singh, Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioner in WP-8391-2020 and

Mr. Ajay Gupta, learned counsel appearing for the intervenor- Mohd.

Alauddin in WP-9320-2021.

WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [3]

2. Mr. Sankalp Kochar, learned Amicus Curiae has submitted a detailed

note containing several suggestions for improving condition of the prisons

in the State vide IA-5007-2021, many of which are based on the judgment

of the Rajasthan High Court in DB Civil Writ Petition (PIL) No.2808/2012

(Suo Motu vs. State of Rajasthan and others) dated 27.01.2016 and also on

the basis of inputs received from various reports of the National Crime

Report Bureau, recommendations of Mulla Committee Report, 1983,

report of All India Committee on Jail Reforms 1980-83 and Model Prison

Manual, 2003. Suggestions given by learned Amicus Curiae are listed

hereunder:

2.1. In view of the report of National Crime Report Bureau, 2019

(NCRB), there are only 31 jails in India exclusively reserved for

women in 15 States and Union Territories, but State of Madhya

Pradesh does not have even a single women jail. The women are

being kept in a small portion of the general prisons where all male

prisoners are also lodged;

2.2. Depsite special enactment of Madhya Pradesh Borstal Act,

1928 and Madhya Pradesh Borstal Rules, 1960, which intended to

setup Borstal Schools with the objective of ensuring care, welfare

and rehabilitation of young offenders by providing them vocational

training, not even a single Borstal School is presently functional in

the State. This would be necessary for youth offenders, aged

between 18-21 years, for their timely reformation by engaging them

in moral lessons, parades, physical and vocational training. Keeping WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [4]

them with hardened criminals increases the change of them going off

the road;

2.3. As per the information provided by the jail authorities, a

doctor for mental patients visits every week for their treatment,

which arrangement is wholly insufficient. The prisons of the State of

Madhya Pradesh do not have even a single Psychologist/Psychiatrist,

as per the data provided by the NCRB in their report of 2019. Due to

lack of broad spectrum of mental illness, the prisons inevitably

become homes for a greater number of mentally ill prisoners of

various degrees;

2.4. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has

prepared a detailed advisory dated 24.06.2021 titled as "Dealing

with Mental Health Issues in Prisoners during COVID-19: A

Handbook". Under Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 the Medical Officer

of the prison has to send quarterly reports to Mental Health Review

Boards about the status of prisoners with mental illness, but as per

RTI reply dated 12.10.2020 provided by the Ministry of Health and

Family Welfare only three States, namely, Tripura, Uttarakhand and

Himachal Pradesh have so far constituted such Mental Health

Review Boards. The State of Madhya Pradesh should also setup

such Mental Health Review Boards. The aforesaid advisory issued

by the Ministry of Home Affair also recommends presence of at

least one doctor, one physician, one psychiatrist, one dermatologist,

one gynecologist, one surgeon, two nurses and four counsellor for WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [5]

every 500 inmates, which is also recommended by Model Prison

Manual, 2016. This aspect is totally neglected in the prisons of the

State of Madhya Pradesh;

2.5. Green Jail model of Narsinghpur should be emulated

everywhere in the State;

2.6. The only prison in the State of Madhya Pradesh having ISO

9001:2015 certification is Bhopal Central Jail, wherein also the

security arrangements are far inferior when compared to other ISO

certified jails. Endeavour should be made to get ISO 9001:2015

certification for all eleven Central Jails of the State;

2.7. Special provisions/facilities should be made for disabled

inmates keeping in view the international conventions about their

rights, consistent with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act,

2016 and jail staff should be sensitized about their rights;

2.8. Separate protocol, treatment and accommodation should be

provided for mentally disabled inmates. There are total 752 mentally

ill inmates lodged in different jails of Madhya Pradesh;

2.9. United Nation Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of

Prisoners (The Nelson Mandela Rules) should be strictly

implemented;

2.10. The Telangana model of training inmates in vocational trades

should be followed, as the State of Telangana has the highest gross

value of sale proceeds from the products of jails i.e. Rs.599.89 WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [6]

crores in the year 2019. Unfortunately, the State of Madhya Pradesh

despite having 2nd highest number of inmates, ranked 16th on the

gross value of sale proceeds from the jails products i.e. only Rs.2.77

crores in the year 2019 as against the total proceeds of Rs.818.96

crores in all the jails of the country, as per the data of the National

Crime Record Bureaus' Prison Statistics India, 2019;

2.11. The Welfare Board for Prisons, which is dis-functional in the

State, should be re-activated. As per the Prions Statistics of 2019

published by the National Crime Record Bureau, the State of

Madhya Pradesh has not provided financial assistance to prisoners

on release and not even a single convict has been rehabilitated;

2.12. A mechanism should be introduced for speedy resolution of

pending complaints of the prisoners before the National Human

Rights Commission and the State Human Rights Commission;

2.13. Most of the prisons in the State are working with less then

50% of the sanctioned number of posts, specially the posts of

Residential Medical Officers, Welfare Officers and Para Medical

Staff, in dispensaries of Central Jails are lying vacant. All the

unfilled vacancies of different levels/categories in the jails should be

filled so as to optimize the efficiency of jail staff;

2.14. Number of natural deaths due to illness in the prisons of the

State in the year 2019 was as high as 156, which is 2 nd highest figure

in any State of the country. This highlights that there is an urgent WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [7]

need for improving living conditions in the prisons by focusing on

prevention of disease rather than only treatment;

2.15. There is an urgent need for amendment and rationalization of

the parole rules which are having lot of infirmities. For example,

parole can be granted to a person convicted under Section 302 of the

Indian Penal Code simpliciter but cannot be granted to a person

convicted under Section 302 with the aid of 149 of the Indian Penal

Code;

2.16. Adequate number of toilets and bathrooms should be

constructed in the prisons keeping in view the Rule 17 of the

Standard Minimum Rules, recommendations of Mulla Committee

Report, 1983, All India Committee on Jail Reforms, 1980-83 and

Model Prison Manual, 2003. One unit of the toilet fitted with flush

typed latrine and cubical for bathing should be provided for every

batch of 10 prisoners, with adequate water and proper arrangement

to secure privacy of both by affixation of gates;

2.17. Regular cleaning of the toilets and bathrooms and lifting of

garbage from all the jails of the State should be ensured through the

local municipalities;

2.18. As per Chapter 24.41 of the Model Prison Manual, 2003, there

should be separate kitchen for every 100 prisoners, but the Mulla

Committee Report, 1983 has vide Recommendation No.56 and 62

recommended that each of the kitchen should cater a maximum WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [8]

number of 200 prisoners. Practice of preparing food for 1000-2000

inmates at one go should be discontinued;

2.19. Quality of 'roti' (chapati) provided in jails being very poor,

automated roti makers should be procured to ensure supply of

healthy and properly cooked rotis to the prisoners;

2.20. Menu of the breakfast, prevalent since ages, should be revised

in tune with present times;

2.21. One sweet item should be provided to the prisoners once in a

week, preferably on every Sunday during lunch hours;

2.22. The possibility of entering into a memorandum of

understanding with Akshay Patra so as to provide quality food to the

prisoners should be explored;

2.23. The cooks, mostly prisoners themselves, working in kitchens

of the prisons, should be provided training for improving the quality

of the food;

2.24. In order to avoid spread of water borne diseases, water

filtering plants should be setup in all Central Jails and District Jails

of the State;

2.25. Weekly camps for treatment of various diseases such as skin,

psychological problems, tuberculosis, dental, eyes etc. should be

held on different days of the week;

WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [9]

2.26. A separate dental care unit in each Central Jail of the State

should be established with periodical availability of a dentist from

nearest Government Dental Hospital;

2.27. Basic diagnosis facilities such as X-Ray, Sonography, ECG,

nebulizer, basic blood tests etc. with trained staff should be provided

in each of the dispensaries of the Central Jails;

2.28. One functional ambulance should be provided to each Central

Jail of the State;

2.29. Minimum four daily newspapers and four monthly magazines

in Hindi language should be provided in each barrack of the Central

Jails and an English daily newspaper be also provided on demand by

any of the prisoners;

2.30. Each Central Jail should procure minimum 100 novels,

preferably in Hindi language, on annual basis, for which annual

budget of Rs.1 lac. per annum should be provided to each Central

Jail;

2.31. The prisoners should be shown one movie in Jails every

fortnight by shift arrangement;

2.32. Regular sports and gaming activities should be promoted in

jails so as to channelise and ventilate the anger aggression, sense of

helplessness, hopelessness and emotional problems of the prisoners,

for which each Central Jail should be provided minimum

Rs.50,000/- per annum for procuring sports equipment. Inter-jail WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [10]

sports competition should also be periodically held in all the Central

Jails of the State;

2.33. Regular Yoga and Meditation classes be also conducted in

jails with the help of individuals/NGOs for improving the mental

health of the prisoners;

2.34. One Industrial Training Institute in each Central Jail of the

State should be established with atleast two trades to begin with, on

pattern of Central Jails in Rajasthan;

2.35. Jail Authorities should collaborate with Indira Gandhi

National Open University and such other educational institutions for

arranging regular educational facilities for inmates. Highly/well

educated prisoners in the jails should be identified for educating the

illiterate/semi-literate prisoners;

2.36. Several manual looms and weaving machines/other machines

lying out of order in Udhyogshalas of different Central Jails, should

either be immediately got reparied, so as to put them to effective use

or replaced by new machines to carry on vocational activities;

2.37. The Government in its Department of Skill Development

should prepare a comprehensive scheme, so as to introduce new

vocational activities like pen manufacturing, book binding, manure

making, screen printing, envelope making, tailoring, zari making and

cutting, shoe making and other leather items, candle/agarbatti

making, broom making, jewellary making, handloom, weaving, WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [11]

tailoring, carpeting, soap, diamond polishing and preparing bakery

items and also food items like pickles, bhujia, snacks, pakoda,

samosa, kachori etc. in the jails of the State;

2.38. The Government, in order to promote industrial activities in

and for the jails, should consider setting up a permanent State Level

Jail Industrial Board and should also consider providing tax

incentives to entrepreneurs, who invest in setting up cottage industry

in and for the jails, to provide employment to prisoners;

2.39. The jail officials should visit Central Jail, Tihar and also jails

of other adjoining States to decide as to what new and additional

vocational activities can be introduced in the jails of the State by

involving Non-government organizations (NGOs). Possibility of

setting up retail outlets for sale of the consumer items manufactured

by the prisoners in different court premises of the State and at other

prominent places may also be explored;

2.40. The prisoners be encouraged to involve in recreational

activities like drama, singing, debates, painting etc., wherefor

necessary infrastructure be provided to the jail administration with

provision of at least Rs.25,000/- per annum for every Central Jail;

2.41. In order to take care of problem of over crowding, sufficient

number of barracks/dormitories/cells in the jails of the State be

constructed as per the parameters set by Mulla Committee Report,

1983 and All India Committee on Jail Reforms 1980-83. The

Government should evaluate, on the basis of prevalent over WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [12]

crowding in all the Central Jails of the State, taking 1st January,

2021 as the basis and decide number of additional

barracks/dormitories/cells, which are required to be constructed.

Necessary budgetary provisions for construction of such

barracks/dormitories/cells on priority basis be procured in the

ensuing budget so as to get them constructed at the earliest.

2.42. Adequate number of visiting rooms should be constructed to

provide proper facilities therein for meeting of the prisoners with

their relatives in peace;

2.43. Prisoners should be provided lockers and shelves to keep their

belongings;

2.44. Use of video conferencing facility should be made effectively

functional in all Central Jails of the State for the purpose of remand

proceedings so as to ease the pressure of providing guards on jail

administration and to have video conferencing between prisoners

and their lawyers at the High Court and District Courts in the first

phase and with their relatives, in second phase;

2.45. Guidelines should be framed for segregation of political

prisoners and the system of keeping the so-called VIP prisoners

away from ordinary prisoners, in absence of specific guidelines,

should be discouraged;

WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [13]

2.46. A nucleus regular staff of Public Works Department should be

made available in the Central Jails for day to day/regular repair

works;

2.47. The Collectors of each district should be directed to constitute

Board of Visitors, who should periodically visit the jails;

2.48. District Collectors/Additional District Collectors and Sessions

Judges/Chief Judicial Magistrates of each district should periodically

visit the jails and submit their report/notes;

2.49. Sufficient number of Open Air Jails/Open Air Camps should

be setup in the State;

2.50. Jail Manual of the State has become quite old and obsolete,

therefore it should be re-drafted by incorporating new inputs;

2.51. CCTV Cameras should be installed at strategic locations in all

the Central Jails and the District Jails;

2.52. All unfilled posts of Jailers/Wardens/Jail Superintendent etc.

in the Jail Department of the State should be filled within a time

bound period;

2.53. The segregation of under-trial prisoners from convicted

prisoners should be ensured;

2.54. Special provisions for healthy diet to be provided to the

infants and children staying with women prisoners in Mahila Jails

should be made and creche should also be setup for them with

provision of toys and other sports equipments;

WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [14]

2.55. Regular/periodical visits of the Gynecologists and

psychiatrists and other specialist should also be ensured in the

Mahila Jails.

2.56. Prison officials shall provide all essential amenities to the

prisoners such as clothes, slippers, soap, toothbrush and toothpaste

etc and sanitary napkins for women prisoners;

2.57. Citing from the order dated 15.05.2019, passed by the

Rajasthan High Court in DB Civil Writ Petition (PIL) No.2808/2012

(Suo Motu vs. State of Rajasthan and others) learned Amicus Curiae

submitted that different oil companies, such as Indian Oil

Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum

Corporation and other companies have allotted retail outlets to

different prisons in the State of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,

Maharashtra and Telangana. A total of 293 prisoners are presently

working on such retail outlets in the State of Telangana alone, who

earn approximate Rs.30 lakh through each such petrol pump/outlet.

The possibility for getting such outlets allotted by the oil companies

atleast, one each for eleven Central Jails of the State, should be

explored;

2.58. As regards welfare measures, it has been suggested by learned

Amicus Curiae that phonelines and internet access terminals should

be expanded by 25-30% at all prisons so that inmates can have

access to them atleast 20-30 minutes every week by way of phone

calls and e-mulaqats.

WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [15]

2.59. The overall budgetary allocation for health of prisoners is a

meagre 4.3% of the total allocation for prisons, which need to be

suitably enhanced as per NCRB reports;

2.60. Justice Amitava Roy Committee constituted by the Apex

Court in "Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons" reported in (2016) 3

SCC 700 has given various suggestions, which should be

implemented in the prisons of the State especially with regard to the

speedy trial, increasing lawyer to prisoner ratio through legal aid

system, setting up special fast-tract courts, avoid adjournment, use of

video conferencing for trial, filling vacancies of the jail staff,

introducing modern cooking facilities and canteens to buy essential

items.

3. Mr. Chander Uday Singh, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the

writ petitioner in WP-8391-2020 has invited attention of the Court towards

the application dated 12.05.2021 placing on record the breakup of Madhya

Pradesh Prison Population Statistics from January 2020 until March 2021,

showing a steady increase in the prison population in the State of Madhya

Pradesh during the pandemic. A list of jails in the State with the highest

occupancy percentages is produced on record as Annexure-A/25. Learned

Senior Counsel argued that it would be evident from the aforesaid list that

as on 31st March, 2021 as against the total capacity of 28675 prisoners,

there were 32263 under-trail prisoners and 17311 convict, totaling to

49763 prisoners, lodged in the different jails of the State. The

overcrowding is thus to the extent of 174% of which surprisingly the share WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [16]

of under-trial prisoners is 64.8%. The learned Senior Counsel submitted

that starting from January, 2021 till the end of March, 2021 fluctuation of

prison population would indicate that during the peak of second wave of

COVID-19, the percentage of under-trail prisons in the State of Madhya

Pradesh has undergone an enormous increase, thus, showing clear violation

of the principles of law laid by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar vs.

State of Bihar and another reported in (2014) 8 SCC 273 and the order of

the Supreme Court dated 23.03.2020 in In Re: Contagion of Covid-19

Virus in Prisons Suo Moto Writ Petition (Civil) No.1/2020. Reference is

made to a letter addressed to the Chief Justice of this Court by certain

individuals highlighting the position of overcrowding in the jails and

immediate need of decongestion. Reference is also made to an article

published in the Caravan Magazine titled as "Condemned Without Trial:

India's under-trials" in the context of overcrowding of prisons in the State

of Madhya Pradesh, placed on record as Annexure-A/27.

4. Mr. Ajay Gupta, learned counsel appearing for the intervenor has

submitted that there are in the State total 50 prisons of which 11 are Central

Jails and rest are District Jails, apart from various sub-jails. Learned

counsel submitted that there is an urgent need for

augmentation/improvement of the health care facilities in the prisons of the

State of Madhya Pradesh, which are wholly insufficient. The current

facilities available in the prisons of the State are wholly inadequate due to

which many prisoners, who are suffering from different kind of chronic WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [17]

diseases, usually succumb to death. In certain cases, the prisoners have to

be taken to the nearest Government Hospital, but in the process critical

hours and manpower are being wasted to arrange protocols and

transportation which is major cause of concern. Four Central Jails in the

State of Madhya Pradesh located at Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior

are having more than 2500 prisoners each and for treatment of prisoners in

the jails, only nucleus medical dispensaries are available. Due to enormity

in the number of the prisoners and consequently the sick amongst them, the

jail authorities have to depend on the nearby Government Hospital.

Medical dispensaries in all the Central Jails need to be upgraded at par

with the Government Hospital or atleast to the level of CHC. Most of the

prisons of the State are highly over-crowded. More number of

prisons/jails/barracks needs to be constructed.

5. We have extensively taken note of the suggestions given by Mr.

Sankalp Kochar, learned Amicus Curiae and also by Mr. Chander Uday

Singh, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner in WP-8391-

2020 and Mr. Ajay Gupta, learned counsel appearing for intervenor, but as

of now we do not wish to issue any specific direction. Even though the

State has filed response to the suggestions given by learned Amicus Curiae

in their affidvit dated 25.08.2021, but sadly, most part of that is highly

unsatisfactory and woefully inadequate. While therefore requiring the State

to give specific-considered and detailed response to each of the suggestions

enumerated above, this Court before proceeding further to issue any WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [18]

specific direction, deem it appropriate to comprehend magnitude of the

problem on the basis of actual position obtaining in different prisons of the

State, especially in 11 Central Jails and all the District Jails at the district

headquarters, by having them physically inspected. We therefore direct the

Member Secretary, District Legal Services Authority accompanied by

Chief Judicial Magistrate of each district to make surprise inspection of all

the Central Jails and District Jails falling in their jurisdiction, on any day

within next six weeks, and privately interview as many prisoners as they

may consider necessary and submit their report to this Court about their

first hand impression about the position of the prisons in the State on the

following aspects before the next date fixed in the matter:

A. SANITATION:-

Whether barracks, toilets bathing facilities at the jail campus are

regularly cleaned? Whether filth and garbage is regularly

removed from the jail premises? Whether the prisoners or

inmates are provided lockers or shelves for keeping their

belongings? How many toilets are there in the jails? What is the

condition of water taps in the toilets? Whether the toilets are

having doors? Whether European flush toilet system is there in

the jails? Whether the same are functional or chocked? If there

are bathrooms, what are the number of bathrooms or whether

the prisoners made to bath out in open?

B. FOOD:-

WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [19]

Are there sufficient appliances and utensils available in the

kitchens? What is the quality of food? What is served to the

prisoners during breakfast, lunch or dinner? Whether prisoners

are served with sweets on any given day of the week? Are there

any trained cooks? Whether prisoners are made to prepare their

food? If so, are they trained for doing so? Whether they earn

remission for rendering such services? What is the ratio of

number of hearths vis-à-vis number of prisoners? In other

words, food of how many prisoners is cooked at a time? If there

are large number of prisoners, whether vegetables, pulses etc.

are cooked for all of them at one go or on four or five different

hearths?

C. HEALTH CARE:-

What is the condition of medical health and care of prisoners?

What are the diseases commonly prevalent in jails, such as

epilepsy, tuberculosis, skin disorders etc.? Are there sufficient

number of medical officers? Are there sanctioned posts of

psychologist, psychiatrists, pharmacists, sufficient nursing

staff? Are there basic facilities of diagnosis and investigation,

such as X-ray, sonography, ECG, Ultrasound Nebulizer,

Stabilizer, dental care etc.? Is there proper building for

dispensary and indoor patients? Is the facility of ambulance

available in the jails and if so, are they functional? What is the

kind of ailment commonly prevalent amongst the jail inmates?

WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [20]

Whether the jail inmates are regularly subjected to medical

checkup and if so how often? Whether they are periodically

subjected to medical checkup for vision of their eyes and dental

care? Whether any Yoga classes takes place in the jail campuses

to help the inmates to release their mental stress? How many

prisoners died in jail while serving their sentence during last ten

years? And what was the cause of their death? Are their

postmortem reports available on record?

D. RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES:-

Are there libraries in the jails and, if so, are they having

sufficient books, novels, magazines and newspapers? Are there

sufficient number of newspapers, magazines provided in each

barrack? Whether movies or films are periodically shown to the

inmates? Whether jail inmates are involved in recreational

activities like drama, painting, singing, debates etc.? What are

the facilities for sports and games to the inmates of the jails so

as to keep them engaged?

E. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES:-

What are the arrangements for holding adult educational

classes? Whether educated prisoners are engaged in taking

classes for illiterate or semiliterate prisoners? Whether

Industrial Training Institutes are set up in jail premises and, if

so, what are the trades in which diplomas are awarded? Is there WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [21]

any need for identification of new trades based on interest of

prisoners? Whether the facility of distant education is provided

and the prisoners are encouraged for the same? Whether study

material or tutorials on education etc. is provided to prisoners?

F. VOCATIONAL ACTIVITIES:-

What are the vocational activities, in which the prisoners

especially those convicted with rigorous imprisonment, are

carried out? What are the rates at which the prisoners are paid

on daily wages basis and how commensurate they are with the

minimum wages prescribed by the State for skilled, semi-

skilled or unskilled labour? Whether those convicted with

simple imprisonment are provided opportunity to work? What

are the consumer products made by the jail inmates? Whether

there is any facility of shops attached with the jail for sale of

such consumer goods to general public?

G. INFRASTRUCTURE:-

What are the number of barracks and capacity of each barrack.

How many prisoners are actually lodged in such barracks so as

to find out the extent of overcrowding, if any? Whether facility

of CCTV cameras is available with different barracks of the

jails? Whether the jail warders on duty at the entrance of the

barracks are connected with the Superintendent through

intercom? Whether the jail wardens and jail guards on duty are WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [22]

provided with binoculars? Whether video conferencing facility

between the central jail and courts is available? If so, whether it

is functional and what is the frequency of its use? What is the

arrangement for maintenance of the jail buildings? Is nucleus

maintenance staff is available for regular repair works at the

disposal of the jail itself? Whether sufficient staff is available in

the Central Jails, such as wardens, jailers, sub-jailers etc.

commensurate with number of prisoners? Whether jails are

fitted with jammers so as to prevent use of cell phones from

inside the jail premises?

H. WELFARE:-

What are the facilities available for the meeting between jail

inmates and their family members and for how many times a

prisoner is allowed to meet with or talk on telephone to his

family members in a month? Whether the convicts are

segregated from undertrial prisoners? Whether those convicted

with heinous crimes are segregated from the prisoners

convicted for offences having lesser gravity? What is the

method of obtaining and processing the applications for

releasing on parole and transfer to open jail, on permanent

parole and remission of sentence? How often meetings of the

Parole Advisory Committee is convened to consider such

applications?

WP-9320-2021 & WP-8391-2020 [23]

6. A copy of this order be forwarded to the Member Secretary, MP

State Legal Services Authority and Director General of Prisons for

compliance. All Superintendents of Central Jails and District Jails are

directed to provide logistic support and full cooperation to the team of the

Member Secretary, District Legal Services Authority and the Chief Judicial

Magistrate for carrying out the aforesaid inspection.

7. A copy of this order be also provided to Mr. Sankalp Kochar, learned

Amicus Curiae, Mr. Chander Uday Singh, learned Senior Advocate and Mr.

Pushpendra Yadav, learned Additional Advocate General for their record.

8. List the matters on 07.12.2021 to see further progress and for

consequential directions.

                   (MOHAMMAD RAFIQ)                       (VIJAY KUMAR SHUKLA)
                     CHIEF JUSTICE                                JUDGE

   [email protected]

Digitally signed
by ANCHAL
KHARE
Date: 2021.09.30
17:16:26 +05'30'