Former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and President of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti has approached the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh by way of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking urgent judicial intervention for the repatriation of undertrial prisoners belonging to J&K who are currently lodged in prisons outside the Union Territory [Mehbooba Mufti vs Union of India].
As per her plea, the continued detention of J&K undertrial prisoners in jails located hundreds of kilometres away violates their fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, including the right to family contact, effective access to legal counsel and the right to a speedy and meaningful trial.
According to the petition, post-August 5, 2019 (when Article 370 was abrogated and J&K was converted into a Union Territory) numerous residents of J&K facing investigation or trial were lodged in prisons far from the Union Territory, causing severe disruption to their legal and personal rights.
"Post August 5, 2019, numerous J&K residents facing investigation or trial in J&K were lodged in prisons outside the UT. FIRs are registered and trials convened within J&K, yet incarceration occurs hundreds of kilometres away defeating the court access, family visits, and counsel conferences, and imposing crippling travel costs on indigent families. Most of the under trials cannot meet their family as the cost of such travels id enormous and is not possible to travel on a regular basis making the process of trial itself a punishment," the PIL said.
Many trials involve voluminous evidence and large witness lists, requiring sustained, private, document-based consultation between lawyer and client and this becomes impossible in practice when the undertrial is housed in a far-off State prison, it added.
Mehbooba Mufti, through her counsel Aditya Gupta, has urged the Court to intervene, asserting that the continued practice of out-of-State incarceration of undertrials constitutes punishment by process and is contrary to both domestic and international standards for the treatment of prisoners.
The PIL has drawn attention to multiple Supreme Court judgments and the Model Prison Manual, which guarantee humane treatment, family access, and effective legal assistance to under-trials, all of which are being systematically undermined by current practices, it was submitted.
No date has yet been set for hearing the matter.