HC sends strong message to prison authorities against abuse of position

PTI, Oct 29, 2024, 7:58 PM IST

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Tuesday sent a strong message to the prison authorities that they were not supposed to abuse their official position.

A division bench comprising Justices S M Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam made the above observation while disposing of a petition filed by S Kalavathi, seeking a direction to the authorities to consider her representation and to provide proper medical treatment to her son Sivakumar, a life convict, now confined in the Central Prison, Vellore.

In her petition, Kalavathi alleged she came to know that her son was assaulted by the Prison Wardens, based on certain false allegation of theft from the house of the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons. He was kept in solitary confinement and made to do domestic work inside the residence of DIG Prisons, Vellore Range, she further alleged.

In its order, the bench said, “It is necessary to send a strong message to the Prison Authorities that they are not supposed to abuse their official position. The convict prisoners inside the prison are in a disadvantageous position. Therefore, any kind of exploitation by the Prison Authorities cannot be subjected to normal view, but serious actions are highly warranted.”

“Prison Authorities are solely accountable and responsible for the happenings inside the prison to the convict prisoners. When the convict prisoners are utilised for residential works in the residences of the Prison Authorities and monitored by the Subordinate Prison Authorities, both the actions are offences and illegal, and serious actions against such prison authorities engaging prisoners as well as the uniformed personnel are just and necessary. There cannot be any compromise in dealing with such nature of offences and misconduct…”

The bench said it was to be understood that prisoners were neither slaves nor were they to be tortured in such inhuman ways to punish them for their crimes. In our legal system, any kind of torture to any fellow human being should be shunned. The convicts ought to be punished only in the manner known to law. Instead, torturing them will not mitigate but propagate crimes.

Subjecting prisoners to cruelty will propagate further commission of crimes by them, the bench added.

The bench said jails were places where authorities were given more power over the rights of the prisoners. In such circumstances, power must be exercised with care and caution.

Abuse of power when having control over powerless prisoners will create havoc and undermine the ethos of the criminal justice system.

Jail authorities must be more aware of their duties and the power accorded to them by law, which must be used in a responsible manner. Power was not granted for exhibiting it over powerless people. It was given by law to use it in a responsible manner for the benefit of people and society at large, the bench added.

The bench said prisoners lodged in jail belong to different social and economic strata of the society. More often people from vulnerable and disadvantaged sections were voiceless and unable to fight for even their basic rights. It was the duty of the ‘State’ and the prison officials to treat all equally and make sure that steps for reformation were taken rather than imposing more and more punishments on them, thereby, promoting them to commit further crimes.

The bench said the Director General of Prison has to initiate all appropriate actions to ensure the prisoners and the uniformed personnel were not engaged for household works in the residences of the jail authorities. However, in this regard, the prison authorities, who have misused their position have been suspended.

In the present case, pursuant to the interim directions issued by this Court, criminal case has been registered and departmental actions were also initiated at the instance of the Director General of Prisons. Action initiated must be proceeded with and all the offenders were to be tried in the manner known to law, the bench added.

The bench directed the authorities to conduct frequent and surprise inspections to ensure that the prisoners were not engaged /employed by the Prison Authorities in their residences for household works. In the event of any complaint /information from any person, an inquiry must be conducted and all appropriate actions were directed to be initiated.