'Retributive policy in jails to blame for unnatural deaths’

NEW DELHI: Highlighting a complete mismatch in approach towards prisoners by the criminal-justice system and prison administration, the Supreme Court has said this dichotomy could be a major cause of large number of unnatural deaths of jail inmates every year.

"What is practised in our prisons is the theory of retribution and deterrence and the ground situation emphasises this, while our criminal justice system believes in reformation and rehabilitation (of prisoners) and that is why hand-cuffing and solitary confinement are prohibited," said a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta.

Justice Lokur, writing the judgment for the bench, said the rejection of criminal justice system-advocated reformation and rehabilitation policy by the prison authorities has resulted in "violence in prisons and eventually unnatural deaths".

The SC quoted National Crime Records Bureau statistics to highlight large number of unnatural deaths in Indian prisons — 127 deaths (87 suicides) in 2012; 114 (70) in 2013; 195 (94) in 2014 and 114 (77) in 2015. "The average suicide rate in prisons is over 50% more than the the figure in normal conditions," it said.

The court said: "The common person does not violate law for no reason at all. It is circumstances that lead to a situation where there is a violation of law. On many occasions, such a violation may be of a trivial nature or may be a one-time aberration and, in such circumstances, the offender has to be treated with some degree of humanity. At least in such cases, retribution and deterrence cannot be an answer to the offence and the offender. Unless the state changes this mindset and takes steps to give meaning to life and liberty of every prisoner, prison reforms can never be effective."

If the over 100 unnatural deaths in prisons every year was a cause of worry for the SC, it also doubted adequacy of facilities, including health care, leading to large number of natural deaths in jails — 1,345 in 2012; 1,482 in 2013; 1,507 in 2014 and 1,469 in 2015.

The SC said: "No state government can shirk responsibilities for providing better facilities to prisoners. If a state government is unable to do so, it should be far more circumspect in arresting and detaining persons, particularly under-trial prisoners... The state government and the prosecution do not have to oppose every bail application nor do they have to ask for the remand of every suspect pending investigation."

It also asked the women and child development ministry to "discuss with concerned officers of the states and formulate procedures for tabulating number of children who suffer an unnatural death in child care institutions where they are kept in custody. Necessary steps should be taken by December 31".