Violating SC order,states keep death row prisoners isolated

In violation of Supreme Court directions,28 persons are being kept in solitary confinement in various jails all over the country. Information under Right to Information (RTI) Act obtained by Navkiran Singh,a lawyer practising in Punjab and Haryana High Court,reveals that West Bengal has the maximum number of prisoners kept ‘illegally’ in solitary confinement. While West Bengal has 16 such prisoners,Rajasthan and Jharkhand have three each.

As per a judgment of the Supreme Court issued in 1978,no prisoner awarded death sentence can be kept in solitary confinement till his mercy petition is decided by the President of India. The judgment given by a Bench headed by Justice Krishna Iyer (retd judge of the Supreme Court) had made it clear that a prisoner,who has been awarded death penalty,cannot be segregated from other prisoners in the jail till his mercy petition is finally decided by the President.

The information obtained also reveals that as many as 286 prisoners are facing death sentence throughout the country. While 171 appeals (against death sentence) are pending in high courts,32 are pending in the Apex Court. Moreover,46 mercy petitions await the President’s decision and seven are before state governors.

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Navkiran Singh had sought the information from all the states so that he could file petitions in various high courts of the country seeking release of prisoners from solitary confinement.

He had filed a similar petition raising the issue of solitary confinement in Punjab,Haryana and Chandigarh. After notices were issued to the two states and the UT,they decided to release prisoners from solitary confinement.

“I am awaiting conclusion of the PIL filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. For,its judgment might benefit in setting a precedent for other states,” Navkiran Singh told The Indian Express.