Mumbai, January 13: Should prisoners be allowed conjugal visits? The question has been posed by the Bombay high court (HC) to the state government.
Hearing the bail petition of an HIV-positive inmate, who passed away in 2009, a division bench of justices PB Majmudar and RG Ketkar observed: “Do research or examine the possibility of whether young inmates lodged in prison for two-three years can be allowed to meet their wives for sometime every month.”
The observation comes in the wake of an increasing number of prisoners being found to be HIV-positive. Advocate Anand Grover, who is amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the case, told the court: “Whether we like it or not, there is sex in jails. It is an issue which everyone wants to sweep under the carpet.”
Observing that the HIV-positive cases could be possibly because
of unprotected or “unnatural” sex, justice Majmudar suggested that the state government should look into the issue.
The court also asked if conjugal visits are allowed to prisoners abroad. Grover answered that the practice is accepted in some Asian and European countries.
“There may be physical needs. See whether a separate place can be given to a prisoner and his wife for a day or two. The government is spending crores to curb the AIDS menace in jails. Instead, why don’t you take preventive steps?” remarked justice Majmudar.
The court directed the government to recruit medical officers for all prisons in Maharashtra by February 20. “If they (doctors) refuse postings in rural areas, take disciplinary action against them,” justice Majmudar said.
The court took on record a report submitted by the chief judicial magistrate, Pune, in July 2009. The report said that 22 inmates in the Yerwada central prison had tested HIV-positive; although a medical officer was appointed, the inmates were not given proper treatment due to the absence of an expert doctor; the staff and nurse available at the prison hospital were not trained to treat HIV-positive patients.
The court has directed the government to set up HIV-testing laboratories in the Nashik, Thane, Pune and Nagpur central prisons by January 20.
Courtesy: DNA