Quick answer
No. In Sukanya Shantha v. Union of India (3 October 2024), the Supreme Court declared caste-based provisions in State prison manuals unconstitutional for violating Articles 14, 15, 17, 21 and 23. Rules that gave cleaning and sweeping work to "lower" castes, kept cooking for "suitable" castes, separated prisoners by caste, or treated Denotified Tribes as habitual offenders were struck down. All States and Union Territories were directed to revise their prison manuals within three months.
The case
Sukanya Shantha v. Union of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1404 of 2023, 2024 INSC 753, Supreme Court of India, 3 October 2024. Bench: Dr D.Y. Chandrachud, C.J.I., J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, JJ.; judgment by the Chief Justice. The petitioner, a journalist, had written an article published on 10 December 2020 on caste-based discrimination in Indian prisons, and then challenged the offending provisions of State prison manuals.
Why the rules were unconstitutional
- Article 14 (equality): classifying prisoners by caste, or by proxies for caste, is an invalid classification.
- Article 15 (non-discrimination): giving cleaning and sweeping to marginalised castes while letting "high" castes cook is direct discrimination. Facially neutral phrases such as "menial" work for castes "accustomed to perform such duties" are indirect discrimination.
- Article 17 (abolition of untouchability): dividing work by caste, and letting a "high caste" prisoner refuse food cooked by others, continues ideas of purity and pollution.
- Article 21 (life with dignity): prisoners keep their dignity, and caste segregation does not help rehabilitation.
- Article 23 (forced labour): forcing marginalised caste prisoners to do "low-grade" work with no choice, purely because of caste, is forced labour. The Court did not ban lawful prison work as such; it banned allotting work by caste.
- Discipline is no excuse: the Court rejected the argument that housing caste groups separately avoids rivalry, comparing it to the discredited "separate but equal" idea. Prison authorities must keep discipline without caste segregation.
- Denotified Tribes: a whole community cannot be treated as "habitual offenders". The term must follow the State's habitual offender law, and all other definitions in the manuals were struck down.
Directions of the Court
- States and Union Territories to revise prison manuals and rules within three months.
- The Union to remove caste-based discrimination from the Model Prison Manual 2016 and the Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act 2023 within three months.
- The "caste" column and caste references in registers of undertrials and convicts to be deleted.
- Police to follow the arrest guidelines in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2014) and Amanatullah Khan v. Commissioner of Police, Delhi (2024) so that members of Denotified Tribes are not arbitrarily arrested.
- District Legal Services Authorities and Boards of Visitors to inspect prisons regularly for caste discrimination.
- A suo motu case (one the Court starts itself), In Re: Discrimination Inside Prisons in India, to monitor compliance.
Example
Neha visits her brother Farhan in prison and learns that the jail officer makes him clean toilets because of his caste, while Armaan is put on kitchen duty and Aadil is kept in a separate barrack, each because of caste. After Sukanya Shantha, all three assignments are unconstitutional. Prison work may be given on fair, caste-neutral grounds, but not by caste.
International standard
Article 10(1) of the ICCPR requires that all persons deprived of their liberty be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. Article 10(3) requires the penitentiary system to treat prisoners with the essential aim of their reformation and social rehabilitation. For the wider subject, see Human Rights Law: Complete Notes.
Exam point
Sukanya Shantha v. Union of India (3 October 2024): caste-based work allotment and segregation in prisons violate Articles 14, 15, 17, 21 and 23. A prisoner loses liberty, not equality or dignity.
