New Jail Manual to address plight of prisoners in the works, Delhi Govt

Yesterday, the Delhi High Court was informed by the Delhi government that a new jail manual is being drafted with the objective of rectifying issues related to jail security as well as welfare of women prisoners..Appearing for the government, Standing Counsel Rahul Mehra said that 13 out of the 16 chapters of the new manual have been finalised and the rest are under consideration..Mehra stated that the manual would revamp parole and furlough guidelines and would address issues regarding the well being of women prisoners, such as the availability of open and semi-open jails. .On December 5, the Delhi High Court was apprised of certain sensitive issues regarding women prisoners at Tihar Jail through a report by Prof Mrinal Satish and Dr. Aparna Chandra of the National Law University, Delhi..It was brought to the Court’s notice that several women prisoners have been arrested and chargesheeted for offences such as rape under Section 376(1), kidnapping with rape, gang rape, kidnapping with gang rape and voyeurism under Section 354(c) of the IPC. It was stated that some of these prisoners are standing trial for commission of these offences, which is completely contrary to law..The Court was hearing a suo motu case initiated in 2015 pursuant to a letter written by Justice Kurian Joseph of the Supreme Court. A Memorandum was received from the women prisoners lodged in Central Jail No.6 at Tihar, stating that out of the 614 women prisoners detained, 412 are undertrial prisoners and many of them are languishing in jail without trial for a very long time..It was also stated that 32 children of the undertrial prisoners were also forced to stay in the prison along with their mothers. The Memorandum highlighted lack of basic amenities in the prison, the gender discrimination to which the women prisoners are subjected to and particularly, the grievances of the undertrial prisoners who remained in jail for more than six months even in respect of simple offences..The Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar had observed that in order to enable the Court to take a holistic view of the situation, it is necessary that Prof Satish and Dr. Chandra have access to the records of the trial courts. Senior Advocate Manoj Ohri has been appearing as Amicus Curiae to assist the Court in the matter..On December 12, the Court had also directed the Delhi government, DG (Prisons), and the police to implement a system that makes the records of undertrials lodged in jails available for perusal, reported DNA..Read the December 5 order: