[Solitary confinement] Humane treatment expected even for hardened criminals: Bombay High court

The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court directed the district prison officials to inform the Court about the statutory procedure for sending any prisoner to an "anda cell" (an isolated cell) and whether any records are maintained for the same [Shaikh Ruheena v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.].A Bench of Justices VK Jadhav and SC More said that even a hardened criminal deserves humane treatment in prison.The Court was hearing the plea filed by Rubeena Shaikh, wife of the convict, Imran Shaikh, who had been kept in the anda cell (solitary confinement) for about 2 years and 4 months."He may be hardened criminal, may even be terror in society, but what is expected is humane treatment and not inhuman treatment," the Bench remarked. The Bench had last week directed a medical and judicial enquiry into the allegations made in the petition by Shaikh..After perusing the reports today, the Bench asked the district prison officials to place on record the statutory procedure to be followed for sending a prisoner to the "anda cell" or isolated cell of the prison. The Bench sought to know what record has been maintained by the prison authorities for Shaikh including the duration and reasons for putting him in that cell."If certain procedure is followed, then we would like to know, where the procedure is prescribed. This has to be done with the prescribed procedure, otherwise this cannot be done arbitrarily," the Bench remarked."The medical examination in future may show psychological problem," the Court added..The prisoner, Shaikh, had been transferred to a regular cell immediately after the High Court had ordered so on Friday.In compliance with its directions, the Bench today took on record the reports submitted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Aurangabad (in a sealed cover), the Superintendent of Aurangabad Prison, and also the Dean of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad. From the reports, the Court noted that Shaikh's vitals were stable, his diabetes was under control and overall, he did not require any psychiatric intervention or medication.The Additional Public Prosecutor DS Kape submitted to the Bench that the facts in the petition had been misinterpreted and the prisoner was not in solitary confinement but in an isolated cell which had more security than the regular cells in the prison.He sought time to place these details on record along with the answers to the queries put by the Bench, which was granted.The Court asked him to place on record details of the prisoners who had been placed in the "anda cell" before the present prisoner and the time period for which they were so incarcerated..The Bench permitted advocate Rupesh Jaiswal, the petitioner's advocate, to peruse the Magistrate's report from the Court records and make his submissions on the same during the next hearing.The matter will be taken up again after 4 weeks.