Senior Advocate Gaurav Agrawal, serving as amicus curiae, delivered these findings to the Supreme Court, following a directive to investigate the situation.
Over the past 4 years, the state of West Bengal has witnessed the birth of 62 babies within its jail premises, while 181 children currently reside alongside their mothers in various correctional facilities. This information, shedding light on the lives of women and children in prisons, was presented to the Supreme Court, highlighting a critical aspect of the prison reform dialogue in India.
The majority of these incarcerated women were pregnant upon their admission to jail, with others becoming pregnant during their incarceration, often after being released on parole or bail and then returning to the facility. This revelation was part of a broader inquiry into the conditions faced by women prisoners in West Bengal, prompted by concerns over reports of pregnancies within prison walls.
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Senior Advocate Gaurav Agrawal, serving as amicus curiae, delivered these findings to the Supreme Court, following a directive to investigate the situation. His report, based on data from the ADG & IG, Correctional Services of West Bengal, indicated that from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2023, a significant number of children were born to women prisoners, most of whom entered the facilities already pregnant.
“It appears that most of the women prisoners were already expecting at the time when they were brought to the jails. In some cases, the women prisoners had gone out on parole and returned back expecting,“
Agrawal report mentions.
The law permits children to stay with their mothers in prison until the age of six, after which they are transferred to state-run welfare institutions if no family members can provide care.
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Agrawal’s submission not only revealed the numbers but also proposed a comprehensive security audit of women’s jails and barracks across the country. He suggested the appointment of a senior woman judicial officer in every district to oversee security measures in women’s prisons and advocated for the presence of sufficient female personnel to ensure the security and welfare of the inmates. Moreover, he emphasized the need for regular health check-ups for the women and suggested integrating a woman member from the child welfare committee in each district to evaluate the availability of creches and schooling facilities within prisons.
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This initiative comes in the wake of a Supreme Court intervention on February 9, prompted by alarming reports of pregnancies among inmates. The court expressed its concern, hoping that this issue was not prevalent in other states. The Calcutta High Court had also been alerted to this situation by Advocate Tapas Kumar Bhanja, who recommended restricting male prison employees’ access to women’s enclosures to prevent such occurrences.
As the Supreme Court prepares to review Agrawal’s application on February 16, the focus intensifies on the conditions within Indian prisons, particularly for women and their children. This scrutiny is part of a larger suo moto case titled “inhuman conditions in prisons,” aimed at addressing overcrowding and advocating for necessary reforms. The court has directed the establishment of committees in each district to forecast the need for prison facilities over the next fifty years, marking a significant step towards improving the living conditions and rights of those incarcerated.
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