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A Writ petition was filed by Dr.Swarandeep Singh against the State on Punjab, requesting proper functioning of food and medical facilities in Jails, for which Punjab High Court passed guidelines which would be mandatory for the Jail Officers to follow.
The petitioner, Dr.Singh, was posted in Central Jail, Ludhiana, where he found grave irregularities in the functioning of Jail regarding food and medicine supply,for which he filed a Writ Petittion.
He submitted some of the irregularities to the court that he observed which included:-
1-Poor quality of food being served to the prisoners.
2-Survival on such small amount of food was tough.
3-Cooking done in unhygienic condition.
4-No proper ventilation in jail kitchens.
5-People who cooked food for the prisoners were ill themselves. And suffered from various diseases.
6-Ration provided to jail authorities never reached jail inmates.
7- There were no proper supply of medicines.
8-Prisoners who had some contagious disease were kept in the same cell with other prisoners.
9-No proper hospital services were provided to seriously ill prisoners who needed doctors attention.
10-A charge of Rs.15,000 was to be paid for admitting in hospital even to people who needed no medical attention or weren’t sick.
11-Mr.Singh was pressurised to admit prisoners who were not sick.
12-Medicine Carton were empty before coming to the jail.
13-Drugs and Injections were openly made available for prisoners by paying high amount of money.
14-No proper procedure was carried to maintain records of medical files.
15-Prisoners that spoke against the jail authorities were severely tortured.
16-Due to all above reasons many prisoners died and seriously ill patients were not sent to hospitals.
Dr.Singh, himself, was attacked by a few jail staff for not listening to their instructions. The court on 08-05-19 ordered the State to file an affidavit of appointing a responsible officer indicating steps to be taken by the state in respect of the issues mentioned above, mainly in Ludhiana. On 22-10-19,Rajiv Kumar Arora, superintendent of Central Jail, Ludhiana, filed an additional affidavit in the court which stated that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed who reported a few suggestions.
According to the Affidavit-
There was installation of 5 RO plant, colour tv, and fans. F.I.R.has also been filed against Balajit Singh, Babu, Vishal, Arunkumar, the jail staff that attacked Dr.Singh. Directions were given by the court to improve food quality and install modern facilities like chapati making machine with proper ventilation must be made. Court also directed proper cleaning of cells and toilets by appointing more safaris karamchari. Proper clothes and blankets and sheets to be provided to the prisoners. Legal and fundamental rights of jail inmates were to be preserved by the state.
Regarding the medical inefficiency, Court directed the State to keep proper records and proper medical aid to be given to all the prisoners. All the inmates suffering from contagious disease should be kept in different cell. Medical reports to be safely kept. Secretary (Home), and Legal service Authority, Punjab, need to visit every jail fortnightly to ensure prisoners do not suffer any torture. The Cort ordered that Jail Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, Home Secretary,Punjab, will be personally liable for any non-compliance of directions given by the Court as they are mandatory in nature.
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