Kerala High Court Asks DLSA To Conduct Independent Assessment Of Prison Where State Plans To Relocate Women Inmates

The Kerala High Court on Friday (November 14) gave an interim direction to the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Thiruvananthapuram to carry out an independent assessment of the facilities available at the Women's Central Prison, Poojappura (Thiruvananthapuram) and to submit a report with details of the inspection.Justice V.G. Arun was considering a plea preferred by Sakhi Women's Resource Centre, a non-profit organization, challenging the government order (Exhibit P1) that proposed to shift the inmates of the Women's Prison and Correctional Home, Attakulangara, Thiruvananthapuram to the Old Women's block of the Central Prison, Poojappura.The Secretary of the non-profit, being the district coordinator of the Victim Rights Centre, Thiruvananthapuram is also head of the prison mentoring teams and is stated to be in regular contact with the inmates. It is stated that she approached the Court through the organization at the instance of the inmates of Attakulangara prison.According to the petitioner, the Attakulangara prison, which had a capacity of 115 inmates, currently house 98 inmates, including 3 foreign nationals. The prison is said to have many amenities like television, radio, auditorium, open spaces for vegetable gardening, art, cultural and sports activities. In the plea, it is stated that there is a food processing unit inside the prison compound and inmates prepare curry powders, pickles and confectionary items that are sold to the public. There are also facilities for tailoring, all of which are essential for their reformative process and rehabilitation.Since the prison is at a close proximity to hospitals, it also ensures medical care to pregnant women and mothers with infants up to the age of 6 years residing there. It is also stated to be at a much safer location to reach as far as those visiting the inmates are concerned compared to the women's prison at Neyyattinkara.“Relocating the inmates from this well-equipped women's prison to a mere block within a men's prison would completely undermine the concept and purpose of a separate women's correctional facility. Moreover, prisoners sentenced to rigorous imprisonment are required to engage in productive work, which would not be feasible in the limited space proposed,” states the plea.The petitioner has sought for a direction from the Court to quash the government order directing relocation of the women inmates from Attakulangara prison to the Women's Block in Poojappura.Subsequently, the government filed a memo containing the letter of the Additional Chief Secretary addressed to the petitioner stating that there was no grounds to review the decision to relocate the women inmates. According to the letter, the decision to relocate was to avoid overcrowding in male prison so as to utilize Attakulangara prison to accommodate male remand prisoners since the Attakulangara Women's Jail had a substantially lower occupancy than its sanctioned capacity. It was also stated that that all the facilities provided in Attakulangara would be provided in the Central Prison block as well.During the course of the hearing yesterday, the Court inquired about the current occupancy at Attakulangara and it was told that 98 inmates are presently there while the facility has the capacity to house 115.The counsel for the petitioner also drew the attention of the Court to a reply filed to the government's memo. According to the reply, the underlying intention behind the relocation is to close down the women's prison, leading to a situation where there would not be any women's prison in South Kerala.It also highlighted the fact that the inmates in the Central Prison included those convicted of sexual offences against women, which would pose a serious security risk to the female inmates, if they are relocated. A suggestion was also made that the Secretary, DLSA conducts an independent visit to the block where the inmates are relocated in order to ascertain regarding the facilities available, safety measures, etc.“Why not the DLSA Secretary make a visit to the premises? This Court wants to know what exactly is the position there. Just an independent opinion on what facilities are available there,” the Court orally remarked, after hearing the parties.The petitioner also pointed out the various other prisons in Alappuzha, Mavelikkara and Pathanamthitta had previously been closed down for maintenance or are under construction for long periods.“Instead of focusing diligently on completing these essential works, the respondents appear to have opted for a shortcut by relocating a group of women under the assumption that the denial of their rights would go unchallenged. Such an approach is neither proper nor justified,” it is stated in the reply.Considering the submissions made, the Court yesterday passed an interim order:“Having heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and learned government pleader, this Court is of the view that in the interest of the...

Kerala High Court Asks DLSA To Conduct Independent Assessment Of Prison Where State Plans To Relocate Women Inmates

K. Salma Jennath

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