Protecting Prisoners' Rights

Protecting prisoners’ rights Overcrowding in prisons has put several inmates at risk of COVID-19 infection and death Aabid Mushtaq and Tajamul Islam jailed under the Public Safety Act, a detention law that allows detention The catastrophic surge in COVID-19 of any individual for up to two years cases across India in April and May without a trial or charge. He had test- led to a great number of deaths (still ed positive for COVID-19 posthu- being counted) and put an enormous mously. His son said that Sehrai had strain on the healthcare system and complained of ill-health when the fa- governments. mily had spoken to him 10 days ear- In the midst of the surge, prisoners lier but there had been delay in his were largely forgotten. The failure of treatment till death became inevita- the authorities to reduce severe over- ble. Sehrai’s death has exposed the crowding in prisons left thousands of condition of prisons in Jammu and prisoners at risk of infection and Kashmir. It has also exposed the con- death. According to data, there are dition of political prisoners who of- 12,715 inmates lodged in 11 sections of ten languish in jail for years and are Tihar Jail alone as against the lodging rarely convicted. capacity of 7,425. Out of them, 11,077 are undertrials. Political prisoners Ever since the pandemic outbreak, Violating human rights human rights activists have demand- As was expected, given the poor state ed the immediate release of political of prisons in India, hundreds of pri- prisoners on humanitarian grounds soners got infected during the pan- but this has fallen on deaf ears. There demic and a number of them died. are several Kashmiris kept in preven- This vitiates a fundamental right de- tive detention in jails in Uttar Pra- rived from Article 21 of the Constitu- desh, Delhi, and other parts of India. tion. Overcrowded jails are a viola- A number of them are undertrials. tion of the human rights of prisoners According to Article 14 (3)(c) of the In- (Re-Inhuman Conditions in 1382 v. ternational Covenant on Civil and State of Assam, 2018). As the court Political Rights, an accused has the said in Charles Sobraj v. The Suptd., right to be tried without undue delay. Central Jail, Tihar, 1978, “imprison- The state is bound to provide legal as- ment does not spell farewell to fun- sistance to prisoners, ensure their damental rights”. safe and timely release and safeguard The aim of imprisonment is not their rights to a fair and speedy trial merely deterrence of crime but also (Hussainara Khatoon v. Home Secre- reformation. Apart from risking the tary, State of Bihar, 1979). But this is lives of inmates, ignorance of the not the reality for a large number of poor conditions of prisons has also prisoners. added to the misery of the families of Taking cognisance of this issue, those in jail. Since physical meetings the Supreme Court directed the between the inmates and family States to examine releasing inmates, members were suspended, many fa- convicted or facing trial on non-se- milies have been unaware of the con- rious charges, from jails either on ditions of their loved ones in prison. regular bail or on parole. It also di- While the Supreme Court ordered rected them to provide transport fa- that prisons adopt video conferenc- cility to the prisoners to reach home. ing technologies to overcome the It is hoped that States will comply. lack of physical meetings, this has Some have said that they have begun not been properly implemented, ac- reviewing prison occupancy. Given cording to Amnesty International. A that States have started vaccinating report of the organisation noted that prisoners too, the situation may im- prisoners in Jammu and Kashmir prove soon. But India cannot ignore were allowed a phone call to their fa- the problem of overcrowding, pan- mily only once in 15 days. demic or no pandemic. In May, prominent Hurriyat leader and chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, Aabid Mushtaq and Tajamul Islam are Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, died in students of law at the School of Law, detention in Jammu. Sehrai had been University of Kashmir.

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