NCRB Can Collect Caste Data Of Prisoners, Supreme Court Clarifies

The Supreme Court on November 7 clarified that its previous directions on deleting 'caste column' in prison registers would not come in the way of the data collection on the demographics of prisoners by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). 

The bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra in the order clarified : 

" Therefore without prejudice to the generality of the directions or their implementation as issued by this Court, we clarify that direction 4 will not impede the collection of data by NCRB." 

The order was passed in an application filed by journalist Sukanya Shanta (the petitioner) seeking a clarification of the directions issued on October 3.

Senior Advocate Dr S Murlidhar and Advocate Disha Wadekar appeared for the petitioner. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhatti appearing for the Union informed that the Ministry of Home Affairs has no objection to the clarification sought by the petitioner. 

Journalist Sukanya Shanta, in whose petition the Supreme Court issued directions to end caste-based segregation and division of work in prisons, had filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking clarification with respect to the direction to delete caste columns in the prison registers. 

The direction in specific reads :  (iv) The “caste” column and any references to caste in undertrial and/or convicts' prisoners' registers inside the prisons shall be deleted; 

It was pointed out by the applicant that the data in the prison registers, which are collated by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), is the only data available on the demographics of prisoners. Without such data, it will be difficult to ascertain how the prison system disproportionately affects certain communities.

The applicant stated that in her writ petition against caste discrimination in prisons, she had not sought for a direction to stop the collection of caste data in prison registers. 

In the judgment delivered by a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on October 3, various directions were issued to end caste discrimination in prisons. The Court declared as invalid the provisions of prison manuals of several states, which prescribed allotment of work as per caste of the prisoner. One of the directions was - "The “caste” column and any references to caste in undertrial and/or convicts' prisoners' registers inside the prisons shall be deleted."

Case Title: Sukanya Shantha v. Union of India, W.P.(C) No. 1404/2023

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