SEEKING RESPONSE OF DG PRISONS ON MEASURES TO MAINTAIN DISCIPLINE AMONG INMATES, OBVIATE INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE: DELHI HIGH COURT

The Delhi High Court in the case Sameer Through His Parokar Faizan Anwar v. The State Of NCT Of Delhi & Ors observed and has recently sought response of Director General of Prisons on measures and changes so that the functioning of prisons is made more conducive among inmates and obviate incidents of violence to maintaining discipline.

The division bench comprising of Justice Siddharth Mridul and the Justice Anup J. Bhambhani observed while dealing with a petition raising the issue of violence perpetrated on the inmates by jail authorities.

The issue considered by the Special bench was that as to what amounts to ‘excessive force’ for disciplining errant prisoners lodged in jails.

In the present case, a prison inmate named Sameer filled a petition alleging that he was beaten by Jail officials inside Tihar jail and sought his transfer to some other prison complex, alleging of such officials, victimization at the hands. On October 28, 2020, the incident is alleged to have happened.

The Court on July 15, had sought assistance of the Director General of Prisons, Delhi Mr. Sandeep Goel who apprised the Bench that an affidavit will be filled by him giving suggestions on the issues raised.

The Court ordered that let requisite affidavit be filed within a period of one week from today, after providing an advance copy to learned counsel appearing on behalf of the other parties.

Earlier, It was observed that the DGP had invited attention of the Bench to varied issues which were the bone of contention between the prison authorities and jail inmates leading to unsavory incidents and violence.

Further, he had also told the Court that there were issues of violence noticed during interaction of jail authorities with inmates in respect to lodgement change of hardcore criminals or when confronted with recoveries of prohibited items in jail like tobacco, mobile phones, weapons and sometimes even drugs.

The bench has expressed shock even during the previous course of hearings over the matter and has sought response of the authorities on the action taken against responsible officers as well as other issues raised in the petition.

Accordingly, the court listed the matter for hearing on August 26.