Bombay HC slams state for doing nothing to improve jails

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday slammed the state government for not doing anything despite court orders to improve the condition of jails in the state.

The move came after the state filed an affidavit informing the court of the work that had been undertaken at Yerawada and Byculla jails.

 After going through the affidavit, the court said that it was vague and though the state had been directed to take definitive measures four months ago, nothing had been done. The court warned that it would be forced to take the government to task if no concrete steps were taken by the state to improve jail conditions.

A division bench of justices A.S. Oka and V.V. Kankanwadi was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Jan Adalat — Centre of Paralegal Services and Legal Aid on the pathetic condition of jails and the inconvenience caused to inmates due to overcrowding and lack of amenities. During the hearing, the state submitted an affidavit detailing measures taken to alleviate jail conditions after the court issued directions in this regard in March 2017.

The affidavit said, “The principal secretary of the home department and ADG (prisons) visited Yerawada jail in Pune, and it has been submitted that the jail has area available where additional capacity, if needed, can be created.” It also stated that the work on improving the infrastructure of Byculla’s Arthur Road jail for women, including increasing the number of bathrooms and toilets, had also begun. Dissatis-fied by the submissions however, the court expressed dismay at the vague steps enumerated by the government. Justice Oka said, “In our March 2 order, we had directed the government to form a committee and comply with our directions within six months. It has been four months now, but we find the steps taken by the government to be vague.” He added that the court was in doubt whether anything substantial would be done by the government even after six months.

The bench warned that in such a scenario, it would take the government to task and posted the petition for hearing on July 13.

Directions by the court

• Identify lands in Mumbai and Pune to construct additional jails to reduce overcrowding at Mumbai's Arthur Road and Pune's Yerawada jails.
• Carry out additional construction at Arthur Road and Yerawada prisons to provide better facilities and more space to prisoners.
• Set up a committee headed by a retired high court judge with experts as members to conduct a scientific study on constructing a model prison.