NEW DElHI :
THE Supreme Court on
Thursdaysetasidecaste-based
discriminatory provisions of
prison manuals of around 11
States while deprecating the
practiceofdistributionofwork
and segregation of prisoners
in separate wards on basis of
their castes.
“State has a positive obligation to prevent such discriminations,” a bench comprising
Chief JusticeDYChandrachud
and Justices JBPardiwala and
Manoj Misra held while issuinga slewofdirections toabolishcaste-baseddiscrimination
inside jails. It also directed the
States to amend their prison
manualswithinthreemonths.
“All such provisions are held
to be unconstitutional. All the
States are directed to make
changes (in prison manuals)
in accordance with the
judgement...
“The references to habitual
offenders shall be in reference
to the habitual offender legislations and all such references
of habitual offenders in State
prison manuals are declared
as unconstitutional if they are
based on castes,” the CJI said
whilepronouncing the verdict
in a packed courtroom.
The top court also took suo
motu (on its own) cognisance
oftheinstancesofcaste-based
discrimination inside prisons
and directed the apex court
registry to list it with a title of
‘In re: Discrimination Inside
Prisons” after three months.
It asked
States to submit compliancereport of
the judgement. At the
outset,theCJI
said the PIL
challenged
theprovisions
of Stateprisonmanuals onthe
grounds of them being discriminatory.TheCJI saidthere
aredivisionsofmanuallabour,
barracks inside jails in some
States on the basis of identity
of the prisoners.