The PIL alleged that the prison manuals 11 states, including AP, Kerala, TN and Telangana encourage caste-based discrimination in jails.
Published Jan 03, 2024 | 1:10 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 03, 2024 | 1:10 PM
The Supreme Court of India. (iStock)
The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, 3 January, sought responses from the Union government and 11 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, on a PIL alleging that the prison manuals of these states encourage caste-based discrimination in jails.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of senior advocate S Muralidhar’s submissions that the jail manuals of these 11 states discriminate in allocation of work inside their prisons and caste determines the places where inmates are lodged.
Certain de-notified tribes and habitual offenders are treated differently and discriminated against, the senior lawyer said.
The court asked Muralidhar to compile jail manuals from the states and listed the plea for hearing after four weeks.
Issuing notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and others, the Bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to assist the court in dealing with the issues raised in the PIL filed by Sukanya Shantha, a native of Kalyan in Maharashtra.
“The petitioner states that caste-based discrimination is there in barracks to the manual labour which is allotted and such discrimination among de-notified tribes and habitual offenders. The plea seeks repeal of offending provisions in state prison manuals. Issue notice to the Union and the state government…,” the court ordered.
“I have not heard of discrimination on caste… the segregation is usually based on undertrial prisoners and the convicts,” the solicitor general said.
Besides Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, the other states are Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
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