SC strikes down rules facilitating caste discrimination in prisons
Supreme Court on Thursday put an end to caste-based discrimination in prisons dubbing it unconstitutional. A bench, headed by CJI DY Chandrachud, directed the central government to make changes in the jail manuals that perpetuate such practices.
The bench ordered that the caste column and any reference to caste in undertrial and/or convicts /prisoners/ registers inside the prisons shall be removed. The bench ruled that such a jail manual, which discriminates by assigning cleaning and sweeping tasks to lower castes and cooking to higher castes, is in violation of Article 15 (which prohibits discrimination against citizens).
SC directed the Centre to make necessary changes to address caste-based discrimination in the Model Prison Manual 2016 and Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act 2023. The Centre has been given three months' time to make the said changes.
The top court also made it clear that members of denotified tribes cannot be viewed as members of habitual crime groups.
In its ruling, the bench also noted that the prison manual in Uttar Pradesh says that no person undergoing simple imprisonment will do menial work «unless his caste is used to do such jobs».
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