New Delhi: Delivering a landmark judgement that erases caste-based discrimination amongst prisoners housed in prisons, the Supreme Court of India on Thursday called provisions in prison manuals of state governments as “relics of colonial criminal laws” and struck down all provisions of prison manuals of State and Union governments that perpetuate caste-based discrimination in prisons.
Apex court directed all state government to revises their prison manuals in three months
The court has directed all state government to revises their prison manuals in three months time so that provisions are not discriminatory in nature especially based on caste in distribution of work in prisons.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said, “For more than 75 years of independence, we have not been able to eradicate caste-based discrimination. We need to do away with institutional practices that perpetuates caste discrimination. Bounds of caste are made of steel, sometimes invisible, but not so strong that they cannot be broken by the power of the constitution.”
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The court has in its judgment also directed that all references to habitual offenders in prison manuals is declared to be unconstitutional as on ground the term stereotypes certain communities and perpetuates discrimination against them.
Apex court also expressed its dissatisfaction with Centre’s model prison code enacted in 2016
The three-judge bench also expressed its dissatisfaction with the government of India’s model prison code enacted in 2016, which did not prohibit classification of prisoners on the basis of caste.
The Supreme Court held that Not providing dignity to prisoners is relic of colonial period where they were dehumanised. “The constitution mandates that prisoners have to be treated humanely and prison saytem must be aware of the mental and physical states of the prisoners,” the bench said.
Apex court judgment came on a PIL
The court judgment comes on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that brought to the notice of the court the continued existence and enforcement of rules and practices under various state prison manuals that were grounded in and reinforce caste based discrimination.
The petition has pointed out that Rajasthan prison manual mandates that members of scheduled castes, like mehtar community, were assigned menial tasks based on the caste system and even in many states the task of cooking was assigned to those of upper caste.
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