Guj, Kerala have schemes to support convict families: HC told

Gujarat and Kerala have full- fledged schemes to provide assistance to families of convicts undergoing jail terms while there is no such scheme in 23 other states, said a report submitted today in the Delhi High Court.
The report separately dealt with Bihar saying that though there is no such scheme, the Prison Manual of the state provides that there shall be a prisoner welfare fund in each prison to facilitate establishment of canteen, help needy persons and their families in distress.
The National Legal Service Authority report filed before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said that out of the information received from 27 state legal service authorities, 23 have said that their are no such schemes in their respective states and union territory.

It said that states like Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chattishgarh, Goa, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and union territories Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar, Daman and Diu, Puduchery, Dadar and Nagar Haveli have no schemes for providing sustenance to families of convicts.
The report, however, said that Gujarat has a scheme to provide assistance to families of convicts like prisoner aid fund scheme and to provide educational facilities to the children of the prisoners who are undergoing sentence in the jails of the state.
It said that Kerala also provides financial aid and run a scheme for self employment of dependents of convicts while Rajasthan runs a scheme called Palanhar Yojana.

The report was filed on a PIL initiated by the court on its own motion while delivering its verdict in Nitish Katara murder case regarding compensation to be awarded to families of convict.
The court had also directed Tihar Jail authorities and Deen Dayal Upadhaya hospital to file reports regarding the infrastructure and medical facilities available with them.
Both Tihar Jail authorities and DDU hospital have filed their report specifying the medical facilities they have.