The Role of the Judiciary in Protecting the Prisoners’ Rights
Journal Title: IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science - Year 2018, Vol 23, Issue 5
Abstract
Judiciary in every country has an obligation and a Constitutional role to protect Human Rights of citizens. As per the mandate of the Constitution of India, this function is assigned to the superior judiciary namely the Supreme Court of India and High courts. The Supreme Court of India is perhaps one of the most active courts when it comes into the matter of protection of Human Rights. It has great reputation of independence and credibility. The independent judicial system stems from the notion of the separation of powers where the executive, legislature and judiciary form three branches of the government. This separation and consequent independence is key to the judiciary's effective in upholding the rule of law and human rights. Since every society has a judicial system for the protection of its law-abiding members, it has to make provisions of prisons for the law breakers. But it doesn’t mean that the prisoners have no rights. The prisoners also have their rights. The Supreme Court of India, by interpreting Article 21 of the Constitution, has developed human rights jurisprudence for the preservation and protection of prisoner’s rights to maintain human dignity. Any violation of this right attracts the provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution, which enshrines right to equality and equal protection of law. In addition to this, the question of cruelty to prisoners is also dealt with, specifically by the Prison Act, 1894 and the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC). Any excess committed on a prisoner by the police authorities not only attracts the attention of the legislature but also of the judiciary. The Indian judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, in the recent past, has been very vigilant against violations of the human rights of the prisoners. The Supreme Court and the High Courts have commented upon the deplorable conditions prevailing inside the prisons, resulting in violation of prisoner’s rights. Prisoners’ rights have become an important item in the agenda for prison reforms. The need for prison reforms has come into focus during the last three to four decades.
Authors and Affiliations
Dr. K Eswar Reddy, Lecturer In Political Science
Keywords
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- EP ID EP418913
- DOI 10.9790/0837-2305053539.
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