Supreme Court Scraps Caste-Based Discrimination in Jails During Job Assignment

New Delhi: In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court of India on Thursday declared caste-based discrimination in jails as unconstitutional. The top court struck down the provisions in several state prison manuals that assigned jobs to inmates as per their caste.

The top court ordered states to amend their prison manuals within three months and warned that they would be held liable for any continued caste-based discrimination.

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

A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ruled that such practices in Indian jails violate Article 15 of the constitution, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth.

“Everyone is born equal; there cannot be any stigma attached to caste,” the apex court said.

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.

The court also ordered the deletion of the caste column in convict and undertrial registers. “Segregating prisoners on the basis of caste will reinforce caste discrimination… segregation will not facilitate rehabilitation..Not providing dignity to prisoners is a relic of the colonial system,” the Chief Justice said.

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 judgment came on a plea filed by journalist Sukanya Shantha, who has extensively reported on caste-based discrimination in prison barracks.