Kerala High Court pulls up authorities for housing prisoners in different jail blocks based on political allegiance

The Kerala High Court recently pulled up the State Prison authorities for housing prisoners in different blocks of the Central Prison at Kannur based on their political allegiance. [PC Pavithran & Ors. v State of Kerala]..A division bench consisting of Justices PB Suresh Kumar and PG Ajithkumar emphasised that prisoners are not expected to indulge in political activities while they are in jail..The Court made the observation while dealing with a case where a Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] worker was alleged to have been murdered in prison by a group of prisoners affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).."We fail to understand how the authorities could house prisoners in different blocks based on their political allegiance. That, in fact, leads to incidents like the instant one. Like prison officers, prisoners also shall not indulge in any political activities inside the four walls of prisons," the Court said. .The Court highlighted that the inmates of prisons should be dealt with in such a manner so that on his release from prison, he emerges a refined and reformed individual. "There is no place for factionalism among detainees," the Court said. .The Court also quoted the following words of Mahatma Gandhi to underscore that the prison environment should enable the reformation of prisoners: "Crime is the outcome of a diseased mind and jails must have an environment of hospital for treatment and care.".The Court added that the prison is expected to be a safe place for prisoners to reform.“A prison is expected to be a safe place, dehors, its inmates are persons involved in criminal activities. The State is the custodian and society could repose its faith that the State is able to ensure the safe detention of the prisoners and thereby ensure that safety of the polity is not at stake. If not, anarchy will be the result. The State and the officials have a solemn duty to ensure that prisons are administered with the avowed objective of reforming and reintegrating into society the inmates," the judgment stated. .The High Court proceeded to direct the Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services, Kerala to ensure that prisons in the State are administered in line with the reformatory goals of the Kerala Prisons and Correctional Services (Management) Act, 2010..The Court was hearing an appeal filed by 9 BJP activists (appellants) challenging their trial court conviction for the murder of a CPI(M) worker.The incident is alleged to have taken place in 2004 due to political rivalry while the accused and the victim were lodged in the Kannur Central Prison. The appellants were accused of having formed an unlawful assembly before beating the victim to death using a wooden bat..30 persons faced trial in the matter. A session court convicted and sentenced 9 of these persons (appellants) for various offences in the case, including murder. This verdict was challenged by the accused before the High Court. .The High confirmed the conviction of three of the appellants for the offence of causing hurt by the use of dangerous weapons, while acquitting them of other offences. Four others accused were acquitted of all offences and ordered to be released from jail. .The remaining two accused had passed away while the appeal was pending, although the Court concluded that they would have been guilty of the murder. .Before parting with the matter, the Court also criticised the investigation in the case, terming it inappropriate and tainted. The Court said that it is refraining from ordering a fresh probe only because the incident took place a long time ago. “The investigating authority has a responsibility to investigate in a fair manner and elicit truth. The authorities concerned should take up the investigation in a neutral manner, without having regard to the ultimate result. And, the investigator shall be honest in every respect,” the Court added..The appellants were represented by Senior advocate Vijaya Bhanu, and advocates PM Rafiq, M Revikrishnan, Vipin Narayan, Sruthy N Bhat, VC Sarath, Ajeesh K Sasi, Pooja Panjak, Thomas J Anakkallunkal, S Sreesharan Pillai, S Rajeev, TK Sandeep, KK Dheerendrakrishnan, V Vinay, Arjun Sreedhar, Arun Krishna Dhan, D Feroze, K Anand and Alex Abraham.The State authorities are represented by Public Prosecutor Alex M Thombra..[Read Judgment]