Supreme Court gives 23 states and UTs final chance in prison discrimination case

The Supreme Court gave 23 states and Union Territories a final chance to answer the Centre's prison-reform queries. Continued silence could force their senior officials to appear personally at the next hearing.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday criticised 23 states and Union Territories for failing to provide information sought by the Centre in a case concerning discrimination in prisons, calling the situation unfortunate and "very sad", the Press Trust of India reported.

The court gave the states and Union Territories one last opportunity to respond, warning that their senior officials could be ordered to appear before it if they failed to do so by the next hearing.

The case follows a landmark October 2024 judgment in which the Supreme Court banned caste-based discrimination in prisons, including the division of manual labour, segregation of barracks and bias against prisoners belonging to denotified tribes and those classified as habitual offenders. It declared prison manual rules in 10 states that promoted such discrimination unconstitutional.

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Manmohan was hearing a case taken up by the court on its own, titled 'In Re: Discrimination inside prisons in India'. The bench noted that the Centre had filed a fresh status report outlining further progress in the matter, PTI reported.

The report raised issues related to police regulations similar to the Madhya Pradesh Police Regulations, 1937, and district-level boards of visitors to prisons under the Model Prison Manual, 2016. It was filed in line with directions issued by the Supreme Court on July 30 and September 10 this year.

In its July 30 order, the court had directed all states and Union Territories to set up a board of visitors in every district within four weeks. Each board was to be headed by the principal district judge of the district concerned.

During Tuesday's hearing, the bench said the status report showed that the ministry concerned had written to the additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries for home affairs, home secretaries, directors general of police and heads of police of all states and Union Territories.

"Unfortunately, 23 states/UTs are yet to reply to the information called for by the home department of the Union of India," the bench said.

Senior advocate S Muralidhar, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, told the bench that states and Union Territories were required to file affidavits or reports explaining the steps taken to constitute district-level boards of visitors, PTI reported.

"It is very sad that the states highlighted in the report are not responding to the home ministry of the Union," the bench said.

The court granted them one last opportunity to immediately answer the Centre's queries on different issues. Their responses would enable the government to file a consolidated report detailing the steps taken to comply with the court's directions.

"We make it clear today that by the next date of hearing, if the states do not respond, we shall be compelled to direct the chief secretaries/principal secretaries of the states/UTs to personally remain present before this court," the bench said.

The matter will next be heard on January 13, by when the 23 states and Union Territories must respond to the Centre on the measures taken to address discrimination in prisons and set up district-level boards of visitors.