Lok Sabha Question No. 3757 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-17
Subject: Violent Incidents in Prisons
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shivkumar Chanabasappa Udasi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3757

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 17 TH  MARCH, 2020/PHALGUNA 27, 1941 (SAKA)

VIOLENT INCIDENTS IN PRISONS

3757. SHRI SHIVAKUMAR C. UDASI:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Supreme Court has expressed concern over violent incidents and unnatural deaths in prisons across the country, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(b)  whether  violence  in  jails  indicates  how  prisons  ruin  inmates  rather  that rehabilitate them and if so, the reasons therefor; and

(c)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  reform  the  criminal  justice  system sooner than later?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY)

(a):  The  Supreme  Court  of  India,  in  its  Order  dated  15.9.2017  had,  inter-alia, observed that custodial violence and unnatural deaths is a matter of concern and had directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to circulate the (i) Model Prison Manual, (ii) Monograph prepared by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) titled Suicide in Prisons - prevention strategy and implication from human rights and legal points of view, (iii) Communications sent by NHRC to States from time to time, (iv) Compendium of advisories issued by MHA to State Governments, (v) Nelson  Mandela  Rules  and  (vi)  Guidelines  on  investigating  deaths  in  custody issued  by  the  International  Committee  of  Red  Cross  to  the  Director  General/ Inspector  General  of  Prisons of all States and Union Territories (UTs).  MHA had

## LS.US.Q.NO.3757 FOR 17.03.2020

circulated the above documents to all States and UTs on 10.10.2017. States and UTs were advised by MHA to make all efforts to eliminate unnatural deaths in prisons.

(b): 'Prisons' and 'persons detained therein' are 'State' subjects as per Entry 4 of List II  of  the  Seventh  Schedule  to the  Constitution  of  India. Administration and management  of  prisons  is  the  responsibility  of  respective  State  Governments, who are responsible for reformation and rehabilitation of inmates. However, MHA has issued various advisories to States and UTs from time to time, inter-alia, on the  subject  of  reformation  and  rehabilitation  of  inmates.  These  advisories  are available  on  MHA's  website  at:  https://mha.gov.in  .  A  Model  Prison  Manual  has also been circulated to all States and UTs, which provides detailed guidelines on wide  ranging  issues,  such  as  Prison  Discipline,  After-Care  and  Rehabilitation, Vocational Training and Skill Development programmes etc. for prison inmates.

(c):  Reforming  and  improving  the  Criminal  Justice  System  is  a  continuous process.  However,  the  Government  of  India  has  taken  various  steps  in  this regard.  In the specific context of Prisons and prison inmates, Section 436A was inserted in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) by Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2005 (No. 25 of 2005), which makes provision for release of an under trial prisoner on personal bond/bail by the Court on undergoing detention for  a  period  extending  up  to  one  half  of  the  maximum  period  of  imprisonment specified  for  an  offence under  any  law. A new  chapter  XXIA 'Plea  Bargaining' -3/...

## LS.US.Q.NO.3757 FOR 17.03.2020

(Section 265-A to 265-L of CrPC) was inserted in the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2005 (No. 2 of 2006) which enables pre trial  negotiation  between  the defendant and the prosecution. These provisions aim at improving the Criminal Justice System and assist in reducing the number of undertrial prisoners in the country.

Furthermore,  the  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  implemented  the  Crime  and Criminal  Tracking  Network  &  Systems  (CCTNS)  project  with  the  objective  of interlinking all police stations for the purpose of sharing of crime and criminal data in  an  electronic  eco-system  by  collecting  data  from  all  police  stations  in State  Data  Centres  and  ultimately  aggregating  the  data  in  a  National  Data Centre.  The scope of CCTNS project has been enhanced to integrate the data with other pillars of criminal justice system namely, Police, Forensics, Prosecution,  Courts  and  Prisons  under  the  Interoperable  Criminal  Justice System (ICJS), which is a common platform for information exchange amongst all  pillars  of  criminal  justice  system.  ICJS  enables  a  nation-wide  search  on police, prisons and courts databases across all States and UTs which results in reduction of errors and is useful in identifying and tracking repeat and habitual offenders.    The  Eprisons  portal  of  the  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  provides  the facility  to  State  authorities  to  access  data  of  inmates  in  a  quick  and  easy manner  which  can  assist  them  in  identifying  prison  inmates  whose  cases become  due  for consideration by  the Under Trial  Review  Committee and  their

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cases can be taken up for consideration accordingly. All these interventions of the  Government  of  India,  from  time  to  time,  are  steps  in  the  direction  of improving and reforming the criminal justice system on a continuous basis.

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