Madras HC Moots Improved Communication Facilities For Undertrial Prisoners & Legal Counsel In Tamil Nadu Prisons
The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Prison Department and the State police to ensure that undertrial prisoners can meet and communicate freely with their lawyers.
This ruling arose from a petition filed by an Advocate who highlighted issues within the Chennai Central Prison, where lawyers were reportedly barred from directly meeting their clients. Instead, a system was in place requiring that communications occur across a barricade. He described how this setup forced lawyers to awkwardly stoop down to converse with their clients.
A Bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice V. Sivagnanam instructed the State to submit a compliance report detailing the steps taken to implement a previous court order regarding these facilities.
The Court emphasized said, “...the facilities provided should be on par with the current day prevailing situation, enabling the legal practitioners to perform their duties peacefully and effectively to defend the case of the prisoners in the manner contemplated under Law. The respondents are directed to comply with the above directions as clarified by us in the aforementioned paragraphs and submit a compliance report before this Bench in form of an affidavit stating about the facilities already provided and the facilities proposed to be provided for the benefit of the legal practitioners and the undertrial prisoners. Facilities proposed to be provided must be provided in a time bound manner, which is to be stated in the compliance report.”
Advocate S Kasirajan appeared for the petitioner and Additional Public Prosecutor E Raj Thilak appeared for the Respondents.
The State government claimed that the barricade system had been abolished following a meeting with High Court representatives on July 25 of the previous year. However, both the petitioner’s counsel and the Secretary of the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA), disputed this assertion, stating that they had personally experienced the problems associated with the barricade.
The Court directed, "Thus, we direct the 1st respondent to ensure that the facilities as contemplated under the Prison Manual must be provided effectively to the legal practitioners and the undertrial prisoners enabling them to get legal assistance, which is a basic right enunciated under the Constitution of India. Such a facility must be ensured in all prisons across the State of Tamil Nadu."
The Court noted that Tamil Nadu Prison Rules allow interactions between unconvicted prisoners and their legal advisors within the sight but out of hearing of prison officials. It instructed the prison authorities to ensure adherence to these rules, enabling comfortable interactions between lawyers and their clients.
Furthermore, the Court added, “The purpose and object of the Rules is to ensure that the harassment, ill-treatment, if any caused to the undertrial prisoners inside the prison, it is to be communicated to the legal adviser for the purpose of initiation of appropriate actions. It is a valuable right conferred to the undertrial prisoners, which cannot be taken away or diluted by the Prison Authorities at any circumstances. In the event of not protecting the rights of the undertrial prisoners inside the prison, there is a possibility of abuse of powers by the prison authorities, which is commonly made before the Courts in many number of cases.”
The High Court underscored the importance of treating legal practitioners with dignity and insisted that the rights of undertrial prisoners must be safeguarded within the prison system.
Cause Title: P.Ananda Kumar v. The Director General of Police (Prison) & Ors., [2024:MHC:3584]
Appearance:
Petitioner: Advocate S Kasirajan
Respondents: Additional Public Prosecutor E Raj Thilak, Advocates CK Chandrasekar, R Krishna Kumar