NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Union government and 11 States upon a plea filed by a journalist, alleging that prison manuals over there encouraged caste-based discrimination among jail inmates.
A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to assist in the matter.
Senior advocate S Muralidhar, appearing for the petitioner, claimed that there have been many instances where Dalits are allegedly confined to separate prison cells and individuals from other castes are held in different areas.
"This is a very important issue which has been raised by the petitioner. Let all the State manuals be put in a tabulated chart. We will hear the matter on a later date," the bench said.
Along with the Centre, the court issued notices to Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
The court took into consideration the gravity of the issue raised by Sukanya Shantha.
Mehta said he had not heard of such a discrimination but if true the situation is 'unacceptable'. He said that there is a need for joint efforts in tackling the issue effectively.
Shantha, in her petition, said that caste-based discrimination persists in prison barracks and extends to manual labor assignments, affecting denotified tribes and those categorised as habitual offenders.
She asked the court to issue appropriate direction to the concerned authorities to repeal the discriminatory provisions found in various State prison manuals.
