A view of the Supreme Court (SC) of India.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Supreme Court on Friday (March 7, 2025) issued a notice on the petition seeking reasonable accommodation in prisons for inmates who are persons with disabilities.
The petition was filed by Sathyan Nadavoor and represented by advocate Kaleeswaram Raj. A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sanddep Mehta issued a notice to the government. The petition said PwDs are forced to stay in the same prisons as non-PWDs with no extra facilities. Prisoners too have fundamental rights, Mr. Raj said.
The petition said “The death of Prof. G.N. Saibaba, a scholar and human rights activist with disabilities, was directly attributable to his deteriorating health, exacerbated by prolonged incarceration and the inhumane conditions of his detention. Another aged prisoner, Stan Swamy, also struggled with disability due to Parkinson’s syndrome and died while in prison”.
Both Justices Mr. Nath and Mr. Mehta said the petition has raised an important issue which has not been adjudicated specifically before by the top court.
Former Delhi University professor Saibaba passed away at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Science in Hyderabad on October 12, 2024. Saibaba was arrested from Delhi in 2014 for having alleged Maoist links and subsequently convicted by a Maharashtra sessions court in 2017. Saibaba was released from Nagpur Central Jail in March, 2024.
Father Stan Swamy passed away on July 5, 2021. Swamy was shifted to the private hospital from the jail on May 29 after being directed by the Bombay High Court.
Published – March 07, 2025 11:34 am IST