The request was made by Solicitors and Barristers at Law.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL seeking parliament’s repeal of a provision of the penal code that allowed prison authorities to confine prisoners in solitary confinement.
“How can we direct Parliament to repeal a provision?” A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra expressed doubts.
The judge said the petition could challenge alleged discrimination and violations of prisoners’ basic rights but could not direct lawmakers to repeal the law.
“We also set aside the law. But this has to be based on the pleadings,” the bench said, advising the petitioners to raise a better plea on the issue.
Solitary confinement is a form of punishment for violating prison rules or instructions in which a prisoner is isolated and has no contact with anyone except prison staff.
Sections 73 (Solitary Confinement) and Section 74 (Restrictions on Solitary Confinement) of the IPC and Section 29 of the Prisons Act deal with the rules for such punishment, depending on the period of sentence, which shall not generally exceed three months and shall not exceed three consecutive months. 14 days.
The PIL was filed by “Attorneys and Barristers at Law”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
