SrinagarThe Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday directed director general of prisons to facilitate the visit of amicus curie to various jails to report about the capacity of the prisons in the state.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation, a division bench of Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey passed the direction after amicus curiae G. R. Tantray urged the court to ask the DG prisons to facilitate his visit to the jails.
On previous date of hearing in the PIL, the Court observed that there was glaring situation of overcrowding in various jails in the state.
The court made the observation after going through the reports of State Legal Services Authority and Director General Prisons on the number prisoners in jails and their intake capacity.
It had also observed that information provided by both the authorities varies so far as some jails were concerned and directed them to find out the deficiencies and submit a fresh report.
One of the reports said there were 146 inmates in district jail Anantnag while its intake capacity is only 64. The Amphala jail of Jammu has intake capacity of 398 while as present there are 559 inmates.
In Udhampur district jail, 238 inmates are lodge while as its intake capacity was 234. The Court observed that these jails in Jammu can be regulated by shifting some inmates to Central jail Kotbalwal as there was low lodgement 75 against the intake capacity of 409.
The overcrowding of prisons in the Jammu and Kashmir is a long-standing problem that has seldom been addressed effectively.
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation based on directions by the Supreme Court, in the case of in Re Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons, wherein the apex court had observed that prisoners, like all human beings, deserve to be treated with dignity.
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