West Bengal prison pregnancies: Most women inmates were already expecting, amicus curiae tells Supreme Court
Satya Prakash
New Delhi, February 14
Amid judicial activism over women inmates in West Bengal prisons getting pregnant, the Supreme Court has been informed that 62 babies were born in jails in the state over the last four years and most of such women inmates were already expecting when brought to prison.
“The undersigned has received information from ADG & IG correctional services, West Bengal on February 10, 2024 at 5:32 pm for last 4 years of all child births in the jails in West Bengal, which indicates that there were 62 children born in the jails in West Bengal during the last 4 years,” senior advocate Gaurav Agrawal, who is assisting the top court as an amicus curiae in prison-related cases, submitted.
“It appears that most of the women prisoners were already expecting at the time when they were brought to the jails. In some cases, the women prisoners had gone out on parole and returned back expecting,” Agrawal said in an application seeking appropriate direction on the issue.
At present, there were 181 children living in jails, 28 of whom were born in jail and 153 came with women prisoners.
Agrawal said his statement was based on information received from Additional Director General and Inspector General, Correctional Services, West Bengal, regarding children born to women prisoners while in custody.
Taking cognizance of close to 200 women prisoners in West Bengal jails and correctional homes getting pregnant, the Supreme Court has sought a report on the issue. A Bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah had asked amicus curiae senior advocate Gaurav Agrawal to examine the matter and file a status report to it.
After holding discussions with jail authorities of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, he submitted that it appeared from the conversations that in some places, including Delhi’s Tihar jail, there are separate jails for women and in these jails have only women officials and no male staff are allowed to go inside.
“In rare cases when there is a requirement of male doctor or visits by male officials, a women guard is always accompanying the person,” the application said, adding in other places, there are women’s barracks in jail complexes where also the same protocol is followed.
“There is a need for a complete security audit of the women’s jails and women’s barracks in the country. Further, there is also a requirement of examining the medical facility in women jails to ensure that proper examinations of women are held at the time of admission and at regular intervals,” the amicus curiae said.
