Supreme Court Sides with Delhi High Court on Policy Decision to Restrict Prison Visits, Rejects Constitutional Violation Claims

New Delhi, 09-01-2024: The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, affirmed the decision of the Delhi High Court to limit the number of visits by prisoners’ families, friends, and legal advisers to twice a week. Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal maintained that the high court’s order, which deemed the restriction not “completely arbitrary,” was a policy decision that they were not inclined to interfere with.

The Delhi High Court, in its ruling on February 16 the previous year, justified the visitation cap by citing considerations such as the available facilities in prisons, staff availability, and the number of undertrials. It emphasized that in matters of policy, courts do not substitute their conclusions with those of the government unless the decision is entirely unreasonable. Therefore, the high court declined to issue a writ of mandamus.

The case originated from a petition filed by advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai challenging certain provisions of the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018. The petitioner sought an amendment to allow open interviews with legal advisers from Monday to Friday, with no cap on the number of interviews per week. In the interim, the petitioner requested more than two weekly visits for legal counsel to their clients in Delhi prisons.

The high court, recognizing the non-adversarial nature of the litigation and the petition’s focus on prisoners’ interests, permitted the petitioner to submit suggestions to the state. It emphasized that the decision to limit visits had been made after careful consideration of various factors, including the number of undertrials and prisoners.

The petitioner argued that restricting visits violated Article 21 of the Constitution, impeding the undertrial’s right to adequate resources for legal representation. The petitioner contended that fixing a cap on visits was arbitrarily restrictive, infringing upon the right to access justice guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution.

In response, the Delhi government stated that the city’s 16 jails housed over 18,000 prisoners against the sanctioned capacity of 10,026. The decision to limit visits, it explained, was prompted by the high number of inmates. The government asserted that allowing two legal interviews could be increased upon the request of a prisoner or visiting counsel without violating the constitutional rights of the prisoner.

#PrisonVisits #SupremeCourtVerdict #DelhiHighCourt #LegalRepresentation #InmateRights #ConstitutionalChallenge #PolicyDecision #AccessToJustice