B81- Prisons

Inside Taloja Prison: A Study   https://www.outlookindia.com/national/inside-taloja-prison-a-study   by Mahesh Raut, a TISS alumnus and rights activist working for Adivasis and marginalised communities, was arrested in June 2018 in the Bhima-Koregaon Maoist conspiracy case and has since been incarcerated in jail . The POCSO Act functions in a way that assumes girls as victims devoid of agency reinforcing patriarchal and feudal principles. This bias results in boys, even minors, being disproportionately criminalised, though the POCSO Act in theory is gender-neutral, and in perpetuating caste and social hierarchies...

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, in his seminal work Annihilation of Caste, highlights the role of endogamy in maintaining caste hierarchies. The POCSO Act, in practice, often serves as a tool for preserving these structures by punishing youthful love that defies the status-quo. This echoes in court observations. In Atul Mishra v. State of U.P. (2022), the Supreme Court stressed the need for a “bio-social approach” to understand adolescent relationships, recognising them as “impulsive, immature, but certainly not sinful or tainted”.

Despite its protective mandate, the POCSO Act’s application can reinforce regressive societal norms, disproportionately affecting the marginalised. Addressing these issues requires thoughtful policy revision and consideration of socio-economic and age-related contexts to assure a more nuanced understanding of adolescent relationships and to prevent such tragic situations.

https://www.punekarnews.in/maharashtras-jails-operating-at-149-capacity-major-overcrowding-crisis/ 
Mumbai, 12th May 2025: Maharashtra’s 60 ...jails are operating at an alarming 149% of their approved capacity, with an average inmate population of 40,634 over the last three years, while the sanctioned capacity is just 27,184, as per an affidavit recently filed before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.</p>
The home department’s affidavit, submitted by Principal Secretary (Radhika Rastogi, was in response to a directive from the High Court concerning a criminal writ petition filed by Nanded-based undertrial Sachin Lone, represented by counsel Ratna Singh. In an effort to tackle the longstanding issue of overcrowding, the state government has devised an extensive plan, which includes the construction of nine new prisons in strategic locations across Maharashtra. The affidavit outlines the construction of new central and district prisons at Palghar, Yerwada (Pune), Thane, Gondia, Hingoli, Bhusawal, Ahilyanagar, and Baramati, adding that these developments will create 14,608 additional prison slots.
“Projects at Palghar and Baramati are already underway, while the work at Ahilyanagar has started after the contractor selection process was completed,” the affidavit states. Additionally, the state has begun the construction of 44 new barracks within existing prison facilities, which will increase capacity by 1,370. Furthermore, 67 new barracks are slated to be included in the 2025-26 budget across 12 prisons, aimed at alleviating congestion in critical facilities.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/maha-jails-cramped-at-double-capacity-amid-40-staff-shortage-hc-gives-2-week-ultimatum/articleshow/120858416.cms 

Comments: MR -  What % of inmates are under-trial, pre-trial or locked up for really pointless crimes? 

Speeding up the legal system and rationalizing it would eliminate the need to spend a lot on new prisons--to which there is no end, as the US experience shows. It can also create perverse incentives as prisons is a good business for various groups.

B: In my opinion, this is the single biggest violation of civil rights, and the remedy is simple and straightforward, requiring no changes in law or public protests.
We should have this on the top of the agenda for PUCL!

MR: 

With new firsthand experiences, observations from his seven-and-a-half-year stay in two central prisons in Maharashtra – Yerwada in Pune and Taloja in Navi Mumbai – his activism while incarcerated, and research conducted within the confines of prison, 53-year-old Rona now views the term from a different perspective. He now approaches the subject with a deliberate focus on caste and religious dimensions. https://thewire.in/rights/rona-wilson-political-prisoner-jails-state-of-emergency 

In recent years, however, he has spent considerable time in jail trying to broaden this perspective. He does acknowledge the “missing historical and social contexts” in the arguments around what a political prisoner is, and how Indian society, during pre-colonial and post-colonial times, has created a separate “criminal category” merely on the basis of one’s birth.

Raut, an Adivasi rights activist from Gadchiroli and a former Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellow, converted prison into a place of research. Over many years in Taloja prison, Raut meticulously gathered data on individuals arrested under The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, a legislation introduced in 2012 to protect children from sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment.

Raut’s research revealed that more than 80% of those implicated under this Act belong to Dalit, Muslim and other marginalised identities, Rona notes.

“Sure, some of them might actually be involved in the criminal act, but a large section of this community is criminalised for merely disturbing the social pyramid,” he observes.

“These young men,” Rona explains, “whether intentionally or not, sought social mobility by forming romantic or sexual relationships with women from different communities. This, however, is seen as a violation of rigid social norms. This regressive society punishes such transgressions. As a result, their actions have led them to be imprisoned.”

Rona is now trying to understand if this very act of transgression, more importantly in a caste-ridden and highly communalised Indian society, “is a political act”.

by Sukanya Shantha

17/02/2025