The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the State government to ensure multi-level checking to prevent narcotic substances getting inside prisons by providing modern facilities and using trained sniffer dogs.
The court passed the direction on a public interest litigation petition filed in 2019 by Aseervatham of People’s Watch, Madurai. He sought a probe into the agitation staged by 25 remand prisoners at Madurai Central Prison on April 23, 2019.
The Madurai District Legal Services Authority conducted a preliminary inquiry and submitted a report to the High Court stating that the agitation was staged due to inadequate supply of water for bathing, cleaning and toilet use.
The report said the ill-treatment meted out to prisoners by authorities during searches for narcotic substances and mobile phones was another reason for the agitation. No prisoner sustained any serious injury in the agitation.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S.S. Sundar passed a series of directions to prevent such incidents. The court took note of the fact that the situation was now under control. Apart from the multi-level checking, the court directed that the inmates could be checked/searched for possession of drugs by trained staff. The inmates could be called to a cell installed with CCTV camera and the search operation could be videographed.
Water for drinking and other purposes should be provided adequately. Judicial officers, who visited prisons, should record the adequacy of water supply and management. There should be no human rights violation, the judges said.
The judges observed that the judicial officers should conduct random enquiry on every visit to the prison to make a remark. Stress management training should be given to the inmates by qualified doctors and experts.
