BENGALURU: The High Court on Wednesday directed the advocate representing a social activist to visit all jails in the state, including the Bengaluru central prison at Parappana Agrahara, and submit a report on the condition of the prisoners there.
A division bench of Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by social activist Abraham Chandrapillai, contending that there are no basic facilities such as toilets and bathrooms in prisons. The petition stated the pathetic condition of prisons and the prisoners.
The counsel for petitioner Ajesh Kumar pointed out the new model prison manual, which prescribes a ratio for amenities like toilets and bathrooms to be set up in jails. According to the manual, 1:20 should be the ratio of the toilets provided for the prisoners and 1:10 should be the ratio of bathing cubicles, Kumar said.
Hearing the contentions of the petitioner, the court asked if he had visited the prison. The counsel said that they had and found the jails are crowded and amenities are inadequate.
The counsel, however, could not give the exact details of the existing amenities. The court directed the prison authorities to allow the advocate to visit the prison. “Permit the counsel and one of his colleagues to visit whichever part of the prisons he wants to go by prior intimation of the dates during one of the weekends,” the bench observed.
Order Reserved
The High Court on Wednesday reserved the order on a petition filed by Karthik Gowda, son of Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, seeking quashing of a complaint filed by actress Maitreya Gowda accusing him of cheating and raping her.