Caste-based discrimination in jail jobs unconstitutional

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court of India on Thursday declared caste-based discrimination in prisons to be unconstitutional, striking down provisions in several state prison manuals that assigned jobs to inmates based on their caste.

A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ruled that such practices violate Article 15 of the constitution, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. The court called it "sad" that, even after 75 years of independence, caste-based discrimination remains ingrained in society. "Everyone is born equal; there cannot be any stigma attached to caste," it said.

The top court ordered states to amend their prison manuals within three months and warned that they would be held liable for continued caste-based discrimination. The bench held that assigning menial tasks like cleaning and sweeping to marginalised castes while reserving cooking for higher castes is a violation of the constitution. It said that prisoners of all castes have the right to fair distribution of work in jails.

"All such provisions (enabling caste discrimination) are held to be unconstitutional," the court said. "All states are directed to make changes in accordance with the judgment."

The court also ordered the deletion of the caste column in convict and undertrial registers. It directed that references to habitual offenders in prison manuals should be based on legislative definitions, without reference to caste or tribe. The court further clarified that members of denotified tribes cannot be considered members of "habitual crime groups". It criticised prison manuals that reaffirmed such discrimination, calling it incorrect.

The Union Government was also directed to make necessary changes in its Model Prison Rules to address caste-based segregation.

The judgment came on a plea filed by journalist Sukanya Shantha, who has extensively reported on caste-based discrimination in prison barracks. The petition highlighted that prison manuals in several states encouraged such discrimination.