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Model Prison Manual amended after SC verdict against caste-based discrimination
The Supreme Court told the central government to revise the model jail manual to remove provisions struck down by the court within three months
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended the model prison manual to address the issue of ‘any caste-based discrimination of the inmates’ in compliance with the Supreme Court’s verdict that ended longstanding practice of caste-based discrimination in prisons, officials said on Wednesday.
In its October 3 judgment in Sukanya Shantha vs Union of India, the Supreme Court told the central government to revise the jail manual within three months, holding that provisions in prison manuals that perpetuate discrimination were unconstitutional.
The verdict was delivered by a bench led by former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, specifically addressing the entrenched discriminatory practices against marginalised communities, including scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST), and de-notified tribes in prisons.
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In a letter to states and Union territories on Monday, MHA said the changes have been made in the “Model Prison Manual, 2016” and the “Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023”.
“To address the issue of any caste-based discrimination of prisoners in the prisons, the following additions are made in Chapter V titled ‘Custodial Management’ of the Model Prison Manual, 2016 at Page No. 62, with a new heading ‘Prohibition of caste-based discrimination in Prisons and Correctional Institutions’...” it said.
The addition in manual said: “It shall be strictly ensured that there is no discrimination/classification/segregation of prisoners on the basis of their caste”.
“It shall be strictly ensured that there is no discrimination of prisoners in allotment of any duty or work in prisons on the basis of their caste. The provisions of ‘the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013’ shall have a binding effect even in prisons and correctional institutions. Manual scavenging or hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank inside a prison shall not be permitted,” it added.
In its order, the apex court also criticised the classification of habitual offenders, particularly the targeting of de-notified tribes as members of criminal groups. It declared such classifications unconstitutional and ordered all states to remove references to habitual offenders in their prison manuals, stressing that such labels are rooted in colonial stereotypes.
“It has been decided to replace the existing definition of ‘habitual offender’ in the Model Prison Manual, 2016 and the Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023 by the following: Habitual offender means a person who during any continuous period of five years, has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment on more than two occasions on account of any one or more of the offences committed on different occasions and not constituting parts of same transaction, such sentence not having been reversed in appeal or review,” the MHA letter said.
