A notice has been issued to the Delhi Government by the Delhi High Court on a public interest litigation demanding better basic facilities like clean drinking water, toilets with doors and better sanitary facilities to the inmates of the Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
A division bench comprising of the Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said that basic sanitary facility is a human issue and it should be dealt with.
The Bench also said that this is a human issue and should be dealt at the earliest. Delhi government Counsel Santosh Tripathi said that the government will look into the issue.
The Delhi Government Counsel submitted before the court that the government will do the needful and take the necessary steps to provide these basic facilities and that the government will file a response within six weeks.
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The case will be heard again on April 14, 2023.
The PIL in the case was filed by the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee (DHCLSC) when it received a letter from an inmate.
A panel counsel of the DHCLSC then visited the jail premises amd inspected the facilities. The report prepared noted that jail was lacking in even basic facilities though it houses some of the most dreaded and well-known accused, undertrials and convicts.
The report stated that the washrooms and their doors are broken which makes responding to the nature’s call as a core compromise.
The panel also said improper facilities makes it very difficult for the inmates to carry out their daily ablutions in a hygienic and private manner.
As per the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018 and the Model Prison Manual, 2016 the prison inmates should be provided access to clean and adequate drinking water and that hygienic sanitary conditions be maintained in the jail premises.
It was also contended that even in international parlance as also foreign jurisdictions, the access to clean drinking water, proper sanitation facilities, and maintaining an overall hygienic environment in prisons has been made mandatory.