Bombay High Court asks Maharashtra Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to visit prisons, submit report

The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to visit prisons in the State in order to gauge the situation and facilities in prisons..A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice SS Shinde also asked the AG to submit a report based on his prison visit. The bench in a special sitting was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking immediate steps to ensure that telephonic or electronic modes of communication is implemented in all prisons in the State..During the course of hearing, AG Kumbhakoni pointed out that there were practical difficulties in implementing the facilities in prison.At this point, Justice Shinde suggested that the AG should visit prisons in order to understand the situation there.The judge also spoke about his own visit to two prisons along with Supreme Court judge Justice UU Lalit and what his suggestions were post that visit.“Those prisons have capacity of 600 and there are over 3500 prisoners. So all facilities have to be updated accordingly. The prisoners should know about the status of their matter and how much sentence have they served,” Justice Shinde said.He also suggested the AG to visit prison personally as it might give him an inside perspective on what the prisons require.“After your visit, it will change your perspective,” Justice Shinde said.Justice Shine added that while some facilities in prison were well maintained, but providing some facilities were beyond their control.For electronic communication facilities, there has to be a technical person in prison for looking after those.Before adjourning the matter, CJ Datta asked the AG to visit prison, as suggested by Justice Shinde and give his independent report on the same by the next date of hearing..The plea filed by NGO, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), stated that when prison mulaqats had been stopped in 2020 due to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, the prison authorities provided telephone and video conference facilities to prisoners to speak with their respective lawyers and relatives.The PIL sought implementation of the Model Prison Manual of 2016 which includes a provision that a Superintendent of Prisons may allow prisoners to use telephones or electronic modes of communication to contact his family and lawyers upon making payment..In response to the PIL, the Maharashtra government filed an affidavit stating that the 2016 Manual had not been adopted by the State yet and hence was not applicable within the State.What was effective in the State was the Maharashtra Prison Manual which did not provide for video-calling facilities as one of the modes available for communication to the prisoners.“In the total absence of any statutory provision in this regard, neither the petitioner, as of the right of the prisoners, can seek the reliefs sought by the present petition, nor can the same be granted,” the affidavit said.The affidavit stated that under exceptional circumstances, video calling facilities were made available to the prisoners.Even in the absence of the provisions, the facility was made available purely on “compassionate and humanitarian grounds”, as a result of the extra-ordinary and unique situation due to the pandemic, the State submitted.The reply stated that there were serious security issues and practical difficulties for continuation of video calling facilities in the present form in all prisons across State of Maharashtra.It stated that prisoners who had to avail the video conference facilities were registered and a verification process was conducted prior to allowing them to use those facilities and it was difficult to verify each and every prisoner.The affidavit also emphasized that there was no machinery and/or system in place to monitor all the audio/video categories of prisoners.“There is a huge uncertainty as to decipher or infer the conversation between the prisoners and the person at the other end during the audio-video interactions, even if such members are verified, especially, if it is in a language not familiar to the prison staff.” the affidavit highlighted.The affidavit by Sunil Ramanand, Additional Director General of Prisons, also apprised the Court that they are taking positive steps towards implementation of the new e-prison system and will actively work towards upgrading the current available facilities for effective and efficient management of the prisons of State.