The Supreme Court on Friday said that it will examine the issue of women prisoners getting pregnant in jails after it recently came to light that around 196 babies were born in different jails in West Bengal [In Re: Inhuman conditions in 1382 prisons].A bench of Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Sanjay Kumar asked Senior Advocate Gaurav Agrawal, who is the amicus curiae in the suo motu case on conditions in prisons, to examine the issue of pregnancies in prisons and report back to the court.Last week a bench headed by Justice Hima Kohli and Amanullah had last heard the suo motu case.The Supreme Court decided to examine the matter after the issue was highlighted before the Calcutta High Court on Thursday.The submission was made before the High Court by an amicus curiae during the mentioning of a case related to prison reforms and correctional homes in the State of West Bengal.A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya took a serious view of the submission and said that the matter would be placed before a division bench hearing criminal cases.To address these concerns, the amicus before High Court had suggested that the male employees of correctional homes should be prohibited from entering enclosures holding women prisoners.
TAGS: Supreme Court women prisoners pregnancies in jails West Bengal In Re: Inhuman conditions in prisons amicus curiae Calcutta High Court
