After the introduction of conjugal visits for inmates in Punjab prisons in September last year, Delhi’s prison is considering implementing a similar program in the near future. The Director General (DG) of Prisons has recently submitted a proposal to the Delhi government’s Home Department regarding prisoners’ rights to request conjugal visits.
The Delhi government has informed the Delhi High Court that the proposal will also be forwarded to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for issuing necessary instructions.
The Delhi government’s submission to the high court came in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) by advocate Amit Sahni seeking directions to the Delhi government and DG (Prisons) to make necessary arrangement in jails for conjugal visits by spouses of prisoners.
The plea wants the court to set aside the state’s prison rule that mandates the presence of a jail officer when a prisoner is meeting his or her spouse. It also urged the court to declare conjugal visit a “fundamental right” of a prisoner.
Mr. Sahni argued that despite most prisoners being in the “sexually active” age bracket they were denied conjugal visitation.
“Despite courts taking a progressive approach and various countries allowing conjugal visits considering it an important human right and also in the light of studies backing conjugal visits as a factor to cut down crimes in jail and reform the inmates, the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018 are totally silent on the issue,” it said.
The high court, on October 9, granted the city government six weeks to apprise it of the developments that follow its recommendation. It has posted the matter for further hearing on January 15 next year.
Precedents
On September 15 last year, the Ludhiana Central Jail introduced the ‘Parivar Mulakat [Family Visit]’ programme. The initiative allows inmates to have face-to-face meetings with their loved ones in specially designated rooms within the prison premises. Such facilities have since been introduced in other jails of the State.
In July this year, Justice S.M. Subramaniam of the Madras High Court requested the State government to consider allowing prisoners to have conjugal relationships with their spouses within the prison precincts.
