Suggest steps to reduce violence against Tihar inmates: HC

Advocate Ritu Kumar, for NGO Multi Action Research Group (MARG), also argued that despite reports of violence and negligence, no action had been taken to control the situation.

The court has now said that it will issue directions to tackle the problem after receiving suggestions from the NGO and senior advocate Colin Gonsalves. The court also accepted Gonsalves’ suggestion to include noted academician and former Delhi University Law faculty dean B B Pande in the consultations as an “independent expert” to analyse the problems in Tihar and give suggestions to improve the situation.

MARG had filed two PILs in 2012 on torture of prisoners in the jail, following which a separate PIL had been filed alleging medical negligence after an undertrial had died of complications during treatment in the jail the same year.

The court had also taken up the issue of prisoner safety in a suo motu PIL earlier this year, after news reports indicated that 33 undertrials had died of unnatural causes at Tihar in the first few months of this year.

Another PIL, filed by Advocate Amit Sahni this year, also alleged that lawyers were not being allowed access to their clients in the jail premises. The court had clubbed all the pleas together to monitor the issue of prisoner safety.

During the hearing, Advocate Gonsalves argued that there was a need to install more CCTV cameras and set up a complaints system to monitor the situation. Government counsel Zubeda Begum also told the court that 248 CCTV cameras were already in place and 250 more will soon be installed.