SC Expands Scope of Committee to Address Aspects Relating to Women Prisoners

The committees' formation was mandated by the Supreme Court, which also ordered an evaluation of the facilities and capacity of jails across the country.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday expanded the scope of the district-level committees to address women prisoners-related issues holistically. The apex court had ordered the constitution of the committees to assess the infrastructure and current capacity of jails across the country.

Senior advocate Gaurav Agrawal, amicus curiae in the matter, submitted before a bench led by Justice Hima Kohli that he has received details from the Additional Director General and Inspector General, Correctional Services, West Bengal, regarding children born to women prisoners while in custody.

Agrawal said, as per the West Bengal authorities, 62 babies were born in the state jails over the last four years and most of the women inmates, who gave birth to them, were expecting when brought to prison. The bench noted that quite a few carried when they came to jails. The apex court was informed that only female staff were deployed in women’s jails or barracks in the state and also CCTV cameras were installed across the prisons.

“Despite this, if something is happening then it is worse,” the bench orally remarked. Agrawal also referred to hygiene, security measures and healthcare infrastructure and suggested that the superintendent and staff of women’s jails must be female. The bench said the senior most woman judicial officer in the district may be included on the panel.

After hearing submissions, the apex court sought a response from all the states and UTs on the issues raised by the amicus in his application for directions and scheduled the matter for hearing on April 9.

“The undersigned has received information from ADG and IG Correctional Services, West Bengal on February 10, 2024, at 5:32 pm for the last four years of all childbirths in the jails in West Bengal, which indicate that there were 62 children born in the jails in West Bengal during the last four years,” Agrawal said in the application.

“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 expecting,” added the application. Last week, the apex court took cognisance of the allegation that several women prisoners in West Bengal were getting pregnant while in jail. The court had asked Agrawal to look into it and submit a report.

The apex court passed the order in a matter titled ‘Inhuman conditions in 1,382 prisons. On January 30, the court issued directions for constituting a committee in each district in every state and Union Territory (UT) for assessing the available infrastructure in jails and taking a decision on the number of additional prisons to be constructed.

The apex court had directed each state and UT to set up a committee comprising the principal/district judge, district magistrate, senior superintendent/superintendent of police, secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, and jail superintendent.

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