The state government informed the Bombay high court on Wednesday that it was still in the process of collecting information from jails on undertrials, especially women, their children, and mentally ill inmates.
The state government informed the Bombay high court on Wednesday that it was still in the process of collecting information from jails on undertrials, especially women, their children, and mentally ill inmates.
The HC had, earlier this month, issued notice to the state while hearing a suo moto petition, which highlights the issue of the rights of the above mentioned prisoners.
Additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai informed a division bench of justices PV Hardas and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi that of the total 39 prisons in Maharashtra, they have collected information from 23. "We should finish collecting data in about three weeks," said Pai.
The judges have granted four more weeks to the government to submit all the information.
Last month, the bench had appointed counsel Ashok Mundargi as amicus curie (friend of court) to monitor the condition of these undertrials.
The judges took cognizance of the issue in February after a Supreme Court order in December 2014, which directed high courts in 24 states in the country to examine "the rights of prisoners, especially women and their children". An individual called RD Upadhyay had filed a special leave petition in the SC to highlight the plight of undertrials languishing in jails without trial for long periods.
The SC order, passed by a full bench of three judges, said, "While examining the issue touching the rights of undertrials, especially women and the children with them, the high courts may also examine the question relating to rights of mentally challenged undertrials and convicts, and issue appropriate directions."
The SC had said that continuous monitoring was required to ensure effective implementation of its directions, which is "to ensure that undertrials do not suffer in sub-human conditions and are provided basic amenities, especially the prisoners' children who, because of their tender age, are at times forced to stay with their mothers till the trial concludes or the sentence is complete."
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