Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Re-Inhuman Conditions In 1382 Prisons ... vs State Of Assam on 10 October, 2017
Bench: Madan B. Lokur, Deepak Gupta
ITEM NO.2 COURT NO.3 SECTION PIL-W
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s).406/2013
RE-INHUMAN CONDITIONS IN 1382 PRISONS
RE-INHUMAN CONDITIONS IN 1382 PRISONS VS Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
STATE OF ASSAM & ORS. Respondent(s)
Date : 10-10-2017 This matter was called on for hearing today.
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MADAN B. LOKUR
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK GUPTA
Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, Adv. (A.C.)
For Petitioner(s)
By Post
For Respondent(s) Mr. K.K. Venugopal, AG
Ms. V.D. Makhija, Sr. Adv.
Mr. R.M. Bajaj, Adv.
Ms. Binu Tamta, Adv.
Mr. Ankur Talwar, Adv.
Ms. Sushma Suri, AOR
Mr. B.K. Prasad, Adv.
Ms. Sushma Manchanda, Adv.
Mr. G.S. Makker, Adv.
Mr. B.V. Balram Das, Adv.
Mr. M.K. Maroria, Adv.
For States of
Andhra Pradesh Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, Adv.
Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv.
Assam Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Adv.
Mr. Sayooj Mohandas M., Adv.
Bihar Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, Adv.
Ms. Fauzia Shakil, Adv.
Mr. Ujjwal Singh, Adv.
Signature Not Verified
Mr. Mojahid Karim Khan, Adv.
Digitally signed by
MEENAKSHI KOHLI
Date: 2017.10.10
Chhattisgarh
17:21:48 IST
Reason: Mr. Atul Jha, Adv.
Mr. Apoorv Kurup, Adv.
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Mr. Sandeep Jha, Adv.
Mr. D.K. Sinha, Adv.
Goa Mr. Anshuman Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Apoorva Bhumesh, Adv.
Gujarat Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR
Ms. Shodhika Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Puja Singh, Adv.
Ms. Jesal Wahi, Adv.
Ms. Mamta Singh, Adv.
H.P. Mr. Varinder Kumar Sharma, Adv.
Haryana Mr. B.K. Satija, Adv.
J&K Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, AOR
Ms. Fauzia Shakil, Adv.
Mr. Ujjwal Singh, Adv.
Mr. Mojahid Karim Khan, Adv.
Jharkhand Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, AOR
Mohd. Waquas, Adv.
Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Adv.
Karnataka Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, AOR
Mr. Parikshit P. Angadi, Adv.
Md. Apzal Ansari, Adv.
Madhya Pradesh Mr. Mishra Saurabh, AOR
Maharashtra Mr. Mahaling Pandarge, Adv.
Mr. Nishant R. Katneshwarkar, Adv.
Manipur Mr. Sapam Biswajit Meitei, Adv.
Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, AOR
Meghalaya Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR
Mizoram Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, AOR
Mr. K.N. Madhusoodhanan, Adv.
Ms. Nitya Madhusoodhanan, Adv.
Nagaland Mrs. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR
Ms. Edward Belho, Adv.
Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. K. Luikang Michael, Adv.
Mr. Z.H. Isaac Haiding, Adv.
Odisha Mr. Anindita Pujari, Adv.
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Punjab Ms. Uttara Babbar, Adv.
Ms. Akanksha Choudhary, Adv.
Rajasthan Mr. S.S. Shamshery, Adv.
Mr. Amit Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Ankit Raj, Adv.
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Ms. Pragati Neekhra, Adv.
Sikkim Mr. A. Mariarputham, Adv. Gen.
Ms. Aruna Mathur, Adv.
Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Adv.
Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Adv.
Ms. Simran Jeet, Adv.
for M/s Arputham Aruna & Co.
Tripura Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR
Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Adv.
Tamil Nadu Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR
Mrs. Sujatha Bagadhi, Adv.
Telangana Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, Adv.
Mr. Mrityunjai Singh, Adv.
Uttar Pradesh Mr. Adarsh Upadhyay, AOR
Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, Adv.
Uttarakhand Ms. Rachana Srivastava, AOR
Ms. Monika, Adv.
Mr. Sukrit R. Kapoor, Adv.
Mr. Nitya Madhusoodanan, Adv.
West Bengal Mr. Raja Chatterjee, Adv.
Mr. Runa Bhuyan, Adv.
Mr. Chanchal Kr. Ganguli, Adv.
A&N Islands Mr. Bhupesh Narula, Adv.
Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Adv.
Mrs. G. Indira, Adv.
Chandigarh Mr. Chandra Prakash, AOR
Puducherry Mr. V.G. Pragasam, AOR
Mr. S. Prabu Ramasubramanian, Adv.
Mr. Manu Sundaram, Adv.
Mr. T.N. Rama Rao, Adv.
Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv.
Mr. T.L. Talwar, Adv.
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Mr. Kuldip Singh, Adv.
Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR
Applicant Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Ritu Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Satya Mitra, Adv.
Ms. Anitha Shenoy, Adv.
Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, Adv.
UPON perusing papers the Court made the following
O R D E R
The learned Amicus has given us a Note dated 10.10.2017 containing the proforma / questionnaire prepared by him for responses to be given by the States on various aspects regarding prison and prison management. The learned Amicus says that he has circulated the proforma to the Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday itself i.e. 09.10.2017 and now he will circulate it to the State Governments also.
The learned Attorney General says that the concerned officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs will render all possible assistance in finalizing proforma / questionnaire within a period of 10 days and will also advise the State Governments to render all necessary assistance to the learned Amicus so that the proforma / questionnaire can be finalized within ten days.
We also request learned counsel appearing for the State Governments and the Union Territories who are present in Court today to give necessary instructions to the concerned officials.
We find it necessary to give only ten days since the affidavit filed by NALSA on or about 11.08.2017 indicates that a very large 4 number of persons are still in prison in complete violation of their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution. This situation simply cannot be accepted.
The learned Attorney General suggests, and we accept his suggestion, that in view of the affidavit filed by NALSA, three State Governments i.e. States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh should file an affidavit within ten days explaining why the recommendations of the Member Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority and the Under Trial Review Committee are not accepted and why persons are not released even though there is a recommendation for their release by the Member Secretary, District Legal Services Authority as well as by the Under Trial Review Committee which includes among others the District Judge, the Superintendent of Police as well as the District Magistrate.
The affidavits be filed by the State Governments positively on or before 25th October, 2017. We make it absolutely clear that extension of time will not be granted. If necessary, we may be required to summon the Chief Secretary of these three States as suggested by the learned Attorney General if there is no satisfactory answer about why persons are not being released in spite of the recommendations made.
We are compelled to pass this order since we have been shown figures from the affidavit filed by NALSA which indicate a pretty shocking state of affairs.
We may also mention that in several instances more persons are released than are recommended either by the Member Secretary, District Legal Services Authority or by the Under Trial Review 5 Committee. This should also be explained in the affidavit. List the matter on 31st October, 2017.
List I.A. No. …...../2017 (Application for clarification/intervention) filed by Ms. Anitha Shenoy along with this matter.
(MEENAKSHI KOHLI) (KAILASH CHANDER)
COURT MASTER COURT MASTER
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