Take action on officers for assault of Puzhal prisoner: Madras HC to DG Prisons

NEW DELHI: Opining that the jail authorities ought to protect the rights of the remand prisoners, the Madras High Court directed the Director General of Prisons to initiate disciplinary action against the prison officials who brutally attacked a remand prisoner at Puzhal Central prison.

In case, a prisoner commits an offence, the prison authorities should punish him or her by abiding by the rules in the prison manual. Physical assault on a prisoner is not permissible, opined a division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and M Jothiraman.

The bench further directed the authorities to shift the injured detainee from Puzhal Prison I to Prison II for his safety. Though the bench recorded that the detainee sustained a severe head injury, it refused to grant compensation as the jail authorities had provided proper treatment.

The prison authorities are taking the law into their own hands and they should refrain from beating a prisoner indiscriminately, wrote the bench and held that offences committed by the prison authorities should be viewed as serious violations.

Pointing out that the remand prisoners cannot be equated to convicted prisoners until the conviction, the bench held that they should be presumed innocent and their rights should be protected.

The division bench also directed the Director General of Prisons to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the prison officer and other officials, for attacking the prisoners, within four weeks.

The petitioner Ananthi, mother of remand prisoner Jeyanthan, moved a petition seeking action against the superintendent of Puzhal Central Prison and prison officer Prasanth Pandian for attacking her son.

On October 16, it was submitted that Jeyanthan fell unconscious as Prasanth Pandian brutally attacked him. Despite him sustaining severe injuries, the prison officials did not take him to hospital for treatment, said the petitioner.

After receiving the information about the brutal attack through her advocate, she went to the prison to meet her son. Ananthi said she was shocked to see her son with bruises and injuries all over his body. She also alleged that the prison authorities denied permission to meet the prison superintendent and request medical treatment.

On December 3, the bench directed the chief judicial magistrate, Tiruvallur to conduct an inquiry at Puzhal prison regarding the attack and unearth the truth. After the inquiry, the judicial magistrate submitted the report confirming the attack on the prisoner by the jail authorities.