Solitary confinement can be defined as confinement of a prisoner which secludes him from the sight and communication of other prisoners. It is a form of punishment wherein a prisoner is isolated from any form of human conduct. In the case of Kishore Singh Ravinder Dev v. The State of Rajasthan, the Supreme Court described solitary confinement as confinement wherein there is complete isolation of prisoners from other co-prisoners and isolation from the outside world. As per the United Nations Standard Rules for the Treatment of prisoners, solitary confinement is the confinement of prisoner for twenty-two hours or more per day without any human contact. Section 73 of the I.P.C states solitary confinement is permissible only when the perpetrator has committed such an offense under the Code that’s punishable with rigorous imprisonment. The period of solitary confinement must follow the scale provided in this section. Therefore, in instances of imprisonment not exceeding six months, solitary confinement shall not exceed one month, in cases of imprisonment exceeding six months but not exceeding one-year solitary confinement shall not exceed two months, and in cases of imprisonment exceeding one-year solitary confinement shall not exceed three months. The maximum period of solitary confinement provided under this section is three months. But there have been situations where it has been held that in the case of simultaneous convictions, the award of separate terms of solitary confinement, which in the aggregate exceed three months, is legal. This, with respect, does not seem to be the correct position because the principle is that penal statutes are to be strictly construed.
This means that punishment can be inflicted on an accused only when his conduct falls under the letter of the law. If a penal provision can rationally be so deciphered as to avoid punishment, it must be so translated. If there can be two or more reasonable constructions of a penal provision, the more lenient one shall be given effect to. Therefore, whether it is a case of one conviction or simultaneous convictions no one can be put to solitary confinement past a quarter of a year. Section 74 of I.P.C talks about limits of solitary confinement which states that in no case a prisoner should not be kept for more than 14 days at a time.
This section authorizes the judiciary that solitary confinement must not be given for more than 3 months and in a case that exceeds three months than in such case solitary confinement shall not exceed seven days in a month. Section 29 of the Prisons Acts, 1894 states No cell shall be used for solitary confinement unless it is furnished with the means of enabling the prisoner to communicate at any time with an officer of the prison, and every prisoner so confined in a cell for more than twenty-four hours, whether as a punishment or otherwise, shall be visited at least once a day by the Medical Officer or Medical Subordinate.
LANDMARK JUDGEMENTS ON SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
· Sunil Batra (I) v. Delhi Administration – Sunil Batra filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the traumatic treatment by jail authorities. Batra, facing the death sentence, challenged his being subject to solitary confinement without judicial sanction. The court has held that any harsh isolation of prisoners from the society of fellow prisoners under section 29 of The Prisons Act, 1894 must be inflicted only following the fair procedure; and in the absence of which the confinement would be violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.
Sunil Batra (II) v. Delhi Administration
Mr Batra was a convict under the death sentence and lodged at Tihar Jail in Delhi. He wrote a letter to the Supreme Court alleging that a Jail warden had brutally assaulted one of the prisoners (Prem Chand) who was in solitary confinement with a reason to extract money. The apex court treated this letter as Public Interest Litigation under article 32 of the constitution.
The Supreme Court held that Prem Chand has been tormented unlawfully and the court directed the Superintendent to guarantee that no corporal punishment or personal violence on Prem Chand will be perpetrated. The court further stated that neither the Solitary Confinement nor any other type of hard labour should be imposed without legal evaluation of the Sessions Judge.
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