The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered the transfer of the matter to the criminal court, with an amicus curiae claiming that some female inmates in the West Bengal Correctional Institution were getting pregnant and that 196 babies were being kept in different such facilities.

Lawyer Tapas Kumar Bhanja, who was appointed as amicus curiae by the court in a 2018 motion on jail overcrowding, submitted a note containing these issues and suggestions to a division bench presided over by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam.

The judge noted that the note raised “certain serious issues” and said it stated that female prisoners became pregnant while in custody.

The amicus brief stated that as many as 196 babies were being held in various jails in West Bengal.

Bandja recommended banning male employees of correctional facilities from entering female inmate pens.

He submitted a copy of the note to a division bench of Justice Supratim Bhattacharya, which was sent to the office of the state’s attorney general.

The court directed: “For the efficient adjudication of all these matters, we deem it appropriate that the matter should be referred to a Justice Department judge for criminal roll determination.”

The Chief Justice directed that the case be brought before him for appropriate orders to be issued in this regard.

A division bench chaired by the then Chief Justice of the High Court had moved a “suo motu” motion in 2018 over the issue of overcrowding in correctional facilities in the state.

A number of related matters raised before and after have also been flagged along with the motion and are being heard together.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)