Study Concept Of 'Open Jails' To Frame Proper Scheme For Welfare Of Convicts: Allahabad High Court Directs UP Govt

For context, open jails are prisons without bars having less strict regulations compared to traditional jails. They operate on the principle of minimal security and rely on the self-discipline of inmates. The concept of open jails to serve the personal liberty of convicts has been evolved in the States of Rajasthan and Maharashtra

A bench of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Brij Raj Singh passed this order on a pending Criminal Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea after re-titling the same as a suo moto PIL concerned with the welfare of the convicts and their dependent family members.

While dealing with the PIL plea, the Court had earlier expressed concerns regarding the family condition of those convicts who were the sole breadwinners for their families who were reduced to a state of penury on account of the incarceration of their mukhiya.

The Court had also taken note of the situation where the dependent family members might be faced with acute financial hardship and the children are deprived of fundamental education and health cover.

Last month, the Court had asked the State Government to clarify the number of male undertrials as well as convicts and female undertrials as well as convicts along with children, if any, who are going through incarceration in Model Jail Lucknow.

The Court had also sought details about the mechanism of providing food to the persons incarcerated apart from other measures which the State takes to ensure support to the families of the undertrials and convicts depending upon their income.

“In order to ascertain the impact of incarceration upon the dependent family members at large and to look at the limited area of personal liberty of the convicts themselves, it was deemed proper to go into all such aspects of the matter in larger public interest. It is in the background of this part of human life that the consideration on these aspects becomes an important question of law which would require attention of this Court,” the Court observed.

Consequently, the Court appointed Advocate S.M. Royekwar as an amicus curiae to assist the Court and directed the AGA Anurag Verma to bring on record the schemes evolved by other States regarding the welfare of convicts.

The jail superintendents of all the jails within the State of U.P. may also propose necessary measures to bring about reformative changes as may be necessary, the Court observed in its order.

Lastly, the state government was also directed to study the concept of Open Jails and thereafter, to bring to the notice of the court a scheme or proposal as may be just and proper to serve the cause within a period of one month.

The Court also directed that its order be brought to the notice of the Additional Chief Secretary, Home as well as the Director General, Prisons and Jail Reforms “for making necessary compliance so as to evolve a complete reformative mechanism in the large interest of convicts to serve the cause.”

Case title - Ishtiaq Hasan Khan vs. State of U.P.

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