Examine viability of establishing women’s reformatories at all divisional headquarters of UP: HC

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has directed the state government to examine the viability of establishing reformatories for women, like the state capital’s Nari Bandi Grih, in all the divisional headquarters of Uttar Pradesh

The court issued the directive after taking suo motu cognizance of the plight of women inmates of Nari Bandi Grih, Lucknow. The court also directed the state to place on record, by November 4, the consideration made by it in relation to this issue.

A division bench of chief justice Govind Mathur and justice Pankaj Bhatia passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, which was registered on the report of the UP State Legal Services Authority in connection with the Nari Bandi Grih (NBG), Lucknow.

As per the report, only 16 of the 223 women lodged at NBG belonged to Lucknow. The rest hailed from far-flung places in the state, most of them from the lower rungs of the society, the report said.

Owing to the distance from Lucknow, family members of such inmates seldom visited them, causing a sense of depression among the inmates, the report said.

The court said an effective criminal justice system demanded adequate punishment with all opportunity for reformation.

The process of punishment and reformation must go on simultaneously and must be undertaken with all efficacy, it added. The prime requirement was to bring the inmates into the mainstream of the society as positive human beings and law abiding citizens.

To have a satisfactory process of reformation, regular visits by the inmates’ family members was necessary, it said. If the opportunity to be in contact with family members was affected knowingly or unknowingly, then that will adversely affect the process of reformation and shall cause injury to human rights of the women under state custody, the court said.

“To address the issue referred above, it is necessary to lodge women prisoners at a place close to their native village/town/city. It would be appropriate to have Nari Bandi Grih which, as a matter of fact, must be a reformatory, at least at all divisional headquarters in the State of Uttar Pradesh,” the court observed.

The court issued notice to the state counsel, who accepted the same and sought some time to file a detailed report in relation to the status and objective conditions prevailing at Nari Bandi Grih, Lucknow.

Such a report may be filed on or before November 4, the next date of hearing, the court said.