Supreme Court issues notices to Centre, 11 states on PIL alleging caste-based discrimination in jails

New Delhi, January 3

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre and 11 states, including Punjab, on a PIL alleging that the prison manuals of these states encouraged caste-based discrimination.

Taking note of submissions made by senior advocate S Muralidhar that jail manuals of these 11 states discriminated in the allocation of work in prisons and inmates’ caste determined the places where they were lodged, a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud asked them to respond to the PIL filed by Sukanya Shantha, who hailed from Kalyan in Maharashtra.

The petitioner has sought appropriate directions to bring such manuals and prison practices in conformity with the Constitution.

While asking Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to assist it in the matter, the Bench asked Muralidhar to compile jail manuals from these states and listed the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

“I have not heard of discrimination on caste… the segregation is usually based on undertrial prisoners and the convicts,” Mehta said.

Besides Punjab, the other states issued notices were Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Referring to Kerala Prison Rules, the petitioner submitted that they lay down a distinction between a habitual and a re-convicted convict, holding that those who are by habit a robber, house breaker, dacoit or thief should be classified and separated from other convicts.

The West Bengal Jail Code lays down that work in prison should be designated by caste, such as cooking work will be undertaken by dominant castes and sweeping work shall be undertaken by people from particular castes, he alleged.