1st Year BA LLB Student at Government Law College, Trivandrum
Facts
The Former Chief Justice of India, Justice R.C. Lahoti, had written a letter to the then Chief Justice of India regarding the disturbing conditions of 1382 Indian prisons based on an Article from Dainik Bhaskar. He pointed out in his letter about prison overcrowding; untimely death of prisoners; lack of prison staff and existing staff not adequately or appropriately trained. In his letter, he stated that the state cannot deny the responsibility on them and the State should ensure their safety and well-being. Since the letter contains a relevant matter which is suitable for a Public Interest Litigation, Supreme Court taken a case in Suo Moto and the Supreme Court registrar send notice to the concerned authorities for knowing the situation of Prisons in India.
Issues
There have been some issues raised by the court to the Government. Government in reply, filed an Affidavit and in that case, agreed that the funds allocated by various Financial Commissions for the development of prisons were not properly used. The Department of Home Affairs (MHA) also stated in an affidavit that it had issued a directive to all provinces and unions to implement Section 436-A of the Criminal Procedure Code to reduce prison overcrowding. It also proposed a number of options for its implementation as a constitutional review committee consisting of a district judge, a district magistrate and a police superintendent. The committee will meet every three months and review the cases of under trial prisoners and the Superintendent of Prison will re-investigate prisoners and submit a report to the Regional Legal Services Committee. They also raised various issues such as free legal aid for convicted prisoners, Plea Bargaining, Fast Track Courts, Frequent Lok Adalats etc.
Judgment
In the Judgment dated September 25, 2018, the Apex court issued some guidelines & directions to various departments of the Govt. related to the Prisons.
They are;
1.Under Trial Review Committee should make sure of the effective implementation of Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 & Sec 436-A of CrPC to avoid the overcrowding in the prison.
2.First time Offenders should be given a lenience with regard to Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 so that they will get a chance to reform by living inside the society itself.
3.More lawyers should be empaneled to assist the poor & diligent under trial prisoners.
4.Fund provided for the welfare of the prison should be properly utilised.
5.There should be periodical inspection by the concerned authorities in prisons.
Analysis
There are still many issues that we face. One of them is the over crowding along with the deficiency of staffs in Prison Administration. Law Commission headed by the renowned Justice H. R. Khanna, suggested that the bail provisions of Criminal Procedure Code,1973 should be liberally interpreted even in non-bailable offences so that over crowding can be avoided to a greater extent. And also, the commission suggested for a separate detaining place for the under trial prisoners. They also added that the State shall evolve a mechanism to ensure that no under trial prisoner is detained unnecessarily which can be achieved by regular review of their cases on timely basis and also by simplifying bail procedure. But, even if many suggestions and directions from various authorities like Supreme Court and Law Commission exist, many of them have turned to be a dead document and the reformation exists only in its name sake. The main rationale behind it, is the non-availability of funds for the prison development. The mechanism of open jails should be promoted more by the state. These prisons unlike all other prisons allows a prisoners more freedom and dignity by allowing them to roam in and around the jail vicinity, taking up employment outside jail and also have less security personnel.
Conclusion
Living in a civilized, progressive society, the system should aim at reforming the criminals, rather than being punished harshly. So for that, humane conditions and rehabilitation for help should be provided to inmates. According to the Prison Statistics of 2015, we can infer that positive changes has happened in the prison scenario albeit in a very small scale. This is an encouraging sign. But one cannot say that it has reformed completely. We have still many more miles to go to achieve that. Our country and the age old system prevailing here cannot be changed over night. But whenever a change in scenario happens, most probably a judicial decision will play a vital role in that. Here the case of Re- Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons can be a fuel in the Prison reformation mechanism in the country and there are already positive signs visible related to that and that has to go on in a rapid pace.
