The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the issue of a large number of female prisoners becoming pregnant in the jails of West Bengal. The top court has taken this step after that petition was brought before the Calcutta High Court. The High Court had drawn attention to the disturbing trend of female prisoners becoming pregnant while in custody in reform homes across West Bengal.
Hearing on PIL is being held in Supreme Court
Now, troubled by the worrying figures regarding this incident, the bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah took cognizance of the serious issue of pregnancy in jail. The bench is currently hearing a PIL, which aims to address the crisis of overcrowding in Indian prisons. Last month, the Supreme Court had issued instructions urging the states and union territories to take immediate action.
Emphasis on basic facilities in jail
The bench had, inter alia, ordered setting up of district-level committees to evaluate the existing infrastructure in jails and determine the need for additional facilities, as per the Model Jail Manual of 2016. The division bench of the Supreme Court has made senior lawyer Gaurav Aggarwal an amicus curiae in the said case and has asked him to look into the issue and report.
Mamata Banerjee government’s refusal
The state government has completely rejected the allegations of pregnancy of female prisoners in various jails of Bengal. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, ADG Lakshmi Narayan Meena of the state’s correctional department said that no woman has become pregnant in any jail of the state. This allegation is completely wrong. We are investigating who is spreading rumors about this.
ADG said- some women were already pregnant
ADG Lakshmi Narayan Meena said that some women were already pregnant and gave birth to children in the correctional facility. He claimed that he regularly holds meetings with the District Superintendents of Police and such allegations have never come to light. He said that strict action will be taken against whoever is spreading such rumours.
Calcutta High Court had recently expressed concern
It is noteworthy that a few days ago, during the hearing of a case in Calcutta High Court, a report was submitted alleging pregnancy of female prisoners in jails. The report claimed that at least 196 such incidents had occurred. After hearing these allegations, the division bench headed by High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagananam had expressed concern. At the same time, on Friday, State Correctional Department Minister Ujjwal Biswas had also rejected these allegations. However, he has sought a report from the District Superintendents of Police in this regard.