L-G nod to open jails for women: AAP govt to HC

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Monday told the high court the lieutenant-governor had approved the extension of benefits of semi-open and open prisons to women convicts who were earlier denied such facilities.

A bench of Acting Chief justice Gita Mittal and C. Hari Shankar took the submission on record and disposed of a PIL which had sought the quashing of guidelines that excluded female prisoners from semi-open and open prisons.

The AAP government told the court L-G Anil Baijal had approved the amendment to the existing guidelines on this.

The amendment will take place with immediate effect, it said. The petition was filed by advocate Sunil Gupta, former legal adviser of Tihar jail, seeking the setting up of a special semi-open and an open prison for women in Delhi prisons in a time-bound manner.

A semi-open or open prison allows convicts to work outside the premises of a jail, earn a livelihood and return to the jail in the evening.

The concept, being adopted by jail authorities across the country, was brought in to assimilate convicts with society and instil confidence in them to help them lead normal lives outside the jail.

The plea had said the guidelines in selection criteria denied the facility to women prisoners without any rationale or justification.

The plea had alleged the guidelines violated the fundamental right to equality of women prisoners in Delhi jails. The petitioner had earlier told the court that only Yerwada jail in Mahar-ashtra and a prison in Rajasthan extended the benefit of semi-open or open prisons to women prisoners.