Madhya Pradesh High Court Directs SLSA To Make Surprise Visits to Prison Facilities To Audit The Prevailing Conditions

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the Member Secretary, District Legal Services Authority accompanied by Chief Judicial Magistrate of each district to make a surprise inspection of all the Central Jails and District Jails falling in their jurisdiction, on any day within next six weeks, and privately interview as many prisoners as they may consider necessary and submit their report to this Court about their first-hand impression about the position of the prisons in the State.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla was hearing a suo moto matter, taking cognizance of the situation of COVID-19 in prisons of the State affecting both under-trial and convicted prisoners, mainly because of overcrowding.

Background

In the said matter, previously, several orders have been passed to grant parole to the convicts and temporary bail to the under-trial prisoners. Along with the said matter, another PIL filed by Madhuri Krishnaswami was being heard. The said PIL highlighted the overcrowding of prisons in the State and the urgent need to decongest them.

During the pendency of the petition, Mr. Sankalp Kochar, appointed as the Amicus Curiae, invited the attention of the Court towards the pathetic condition of the prisons in the State, has given numerous suggestions for reforms in the jails/prisons of the State. Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh and Advocate Ajay Gupta also offered their suggestion.

Mr. Sankalp Kochar, Amicus Curiae, has submitted a detailed note containing 60-point suggestions for improving the condition of the prisons in the State, many of which are based on the judgment of the Rajasthan High Court in DB Civil Writ Petition (PIL) No.2808/2012 (Suo Motu vs. State of Rajasthan and others) and also based on inputs received from various reports of the National Crime Report Bureau, recommendations of Mulla Committee Report, 1983, report of All India Committee on Jail Reforms 1980-83 and Model Prison Manual, 2003.

In Madhya Pradesh, against the total capacity of 28675 prisoners, there were 32263 under-trail prisoners and 17311 convicts, totaling 49763 prisoners, lodged in the different jails of the State. The overcrowding is thus to the extent of 174%, of which surprisingly the share of under-trial prisoners is 64.8%.

Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh argued that during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19, the percentage of under-trail prisons in the State of Madhya Pradesh had undergone an enormous increase, thus, showing clear violation of the principles of law laid by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar vs. the State of Bihar and another and the order of the Supreme Court in Re: Contagion of Covid-19 Virus in Prisons.

Findings

The Court extensively took note of the suggestions put forth by the Amicus Currie and other counsels. It expressed dismally on the affidavit submitted by the State, noting that 'most of that is highly unsatisfactory and woefully inadequate.' It remarked that the State must give a specific-considered and detailed response to each of the suggestions enumerated above.

It comprehended the magnitude of the problem based on actual position obtaining in different prisons of the State, especially in 11 Central Jails and all the District Jails at the district headquarters, by having them physically inspected.

While directing the Member Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, to make a surprise visit to the jails, it detailed the following aspects: (a)sanitation; (b) food; (c) health care; (d) recreational activities; (e) educational activities; (f) vocational activities; (g) infrastructure; and (h) welfare.

The Court also directed Superintendents of Central Jails and District Jails  to provide logistic support and full cooperation to the team of the Member Secretary, District Legal Services Authority and the Chief Judicial Magistrate for carrying out the aforesaid inspection.

Title:  In Reference (Suo Motu) v. The State of Madhya Pradesh & other and Madhuri Krishnaswami v.The State of Madhya Pradesh & others

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