SC notice to Centre on better facilities for disabled prisoners
The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking adequate facilities for disabled prisoners and implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, in prisons across India.
Acting on a petition filed by activist Sathyan Naravoor, a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta asked the Centre and others to file their responses in four weeks.
Naravoor contended that even after more than eight years since the enactment of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, most state prison manuals do not include the mandatory provisions for ramps and other essential accessibility measures.
“This ongoing failure severely impacts the basic mobility of disabled prisoners within prison premises, directly violating the statutory requirements of the Act,” the petitioner submitted.
Naravoor said due to lack of infrastructural facilities such as ramps and accessible toilets, prisoners with disabilities often depended on others for assistance with their daily tasks.
Citing instances of Prof GN Saibaba and activist Stan Swamy to highlight the “severe neglect” of disabled prisoners, the plea said necessary provisions should be incorporated in the existing Prisons Act to address the special needs of disabled inmates.
Former Delhi University professor Saibaba died on October 12 last year at a state-run hospital in Hyderabad due to health-related complications, seven months after he was acquitted in a case of alleged links with Maoists after 10 years in prison. Arrested in the Bhima-Koregaon case, Swamy died at Mumbai's Holy Family Hospital in 2021.
