Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the State government to file an affidavit on steps taken for the welfare of children in prison with their mothers, and those left out because both parents are in prison.
A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing a suo motu petition based on a report filed by Prayaas, the field-work programme of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on the need for the protection and welfare of children of women prisoners. The court had appointed Prayaas project director Vijay Raghavan as the amicus curae in the case.
In the last hearing, Mr. Raghavan had informed the court that they have finalised some suggestions and handed them over to the State government. The list of suggestions submitted in court include informing the woman prisoner at the time of arrest about her right to take her infant child (below six years) with her to jail. Also, questioning and interrogation of the accused should not be done in the presence of her children.
The court said that as per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015, there are provisions for children in need of care and protection and those in conflict with law. The court observed such children need to be sent to shelter homes. The Bench said the State is obligated to look into the NGO’s suggestions, and directed it to file an affidavit in two weeks.
On October 17, 2016, the Bench had said, “In our view, a mechanism will have to be involved by the State government at the time when these women are arrested along with their children and an entry to that effect has to be made by the police in the arrest register in the police station and by the Jail Superintendent when the women prisoners are kept in the judicial custody.”
