Taking note that several reforms recommended by a court-appointed advocate commissioner were yet to be implemented in police stations and jails in the state, the Madras High Court today ordered the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority to monitor and check up periodically prisons, especially those for women.
The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, gave the direction when it was brought to its notice that several reforms and facilities recommended by the court-appointed Advocate Commissioner Sudha Ramalingam had not yet been implemented in the police stations and jails in the state.
The court was hearing two pending matters -- with regard to implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Visitors constituted on report of All India Committee on Prison Reforms and another related proper lock-up rooms with basic facilities for women in all police stations in Villupuram District.
The bench, which perused the report submitted by the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, said "the report indicated the progress made on various counts towards prison reforms."
The government said the key facilities such as having a lock-up room exclusively for women with all the amenities had been provided.
However, the court-appointed Advocate Commissioner said a number of issues still remained unaddressed and opined that a constant monitoring was required.
Taking note of the Advocate Commissioner's report, the court said "prison facilities would henceforth be monitored by TNSLSA periodically and the Advocate Commissioner too could assist the authority. Every three months, TNSLSA must file reports till such time we are satisfied that further monitoring is not necessary".
