The Supreme Court has expanded its scrutiny of the failure to produce undertrial prisoners before trial courts, calling upon all high courts, police and prison chiefs across the country to explain their steps to ensure constitutional safeguards for incarcerated persons are not violated.
A bench of justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R Mahadevan directed that the directors general of police and the heads of prison departments of all states and Union territories, along with the registrar generals of all high courts, be impleaded as party respondents in the case.
The court also sought specific details from high courts on whether dedicated virtual courts exist for producing undertrial prisoners through video conferencing, noting that such systems could help balance manpower constraints with security concerns.
The directions came during proceedings in a case where the court had earlier summoned senior police and prison officials from Maharashtra after an undertrial prisoner was not produced before the trial court on 55 out of 85 hearing dates.
The Thane police commissioner, Kalyan jail superintendent and additional senior jailor (judicial) appeared before the court in person as directed earlier. However, the bench expressed dissatisfaction with the affidavits filed by the officers and said they had failed to comply with its earlier order directing them to submit a formal show-cause explanation.
The court described this as an indication of 'extreme casualness' and said it could have proceeded with contempt action for violation of its order.
The bench also rejected the explanations offered by the officers for the failure to produce the prisoner, describing them as 'lame excuses'.
The case will now be taken up on April 1.
