The case arose when journalist Sheela Barse wrote a letter to Supreme Court complaining the custodial violence to women prisoners whilst confined in the police lock up in the city of Bombay. The court treated the letter as writ petition.
The petitioner stated in her letter that she interviewed fifteen women prisoners in the Bombay Central Jail with the permission of the Inspector General of Prisons between 11 and 17th May, 1982 and five out of them told her that they had been assaulted by the police in the police lock up.
Of these five who complained of having been assaulted by the police, the petitioner particularly mentioned the cases of two, namely, Devamma and Pushpa Paeen who were allegedly assaulted and tortured whilst they were in the police lock up.
Commission of A.R. Desai
Supreme Court also directed that Dr. (Miss) A.R. Desai, Director of College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, Bombay will visit the Bombay Central Jail and interview women prisoners lodged there including Devamma and Pushpa Paeen without anyone else being present at the time of interview and ascertain whether they had been subjected to any torture or ill- treatment and submit a report to the Court on or before 30th August, 1982.
Pursuant to the order made by the Court, Dr. Miss A.R. Desai visited Bombay Central prison and after interviewing women prisoners lodged there, made a detailed report to the Court. The Report was a highly interesting and instructive socio-legal document which provided an insight into the problems and difficulties facing women. The primary question which was raised in the letter of the petitioner relates to the safety and security of women prisoners in police lock up and their protection against torture and ill-treatment.
State’s duty to provide legal assistance
The court further made directions in regard to the need to provide legal assistance not only to women prisoners but to all prisoners lodged in the jails in the State of Maharashtra. The court said that,
“We have already had occasion to point out in several decisions given by this Court that legal assistance to a poor or indigent accused who is arrested and put in jeopardy of his life or personal liberty is a constitutional imperative mandated not only by Article 39 but also by Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
It is a necessary sine qua non of justice and where it is not provided, injustice is likely to result and undeniably every act of injustice corrodes the foundations of democracy and rule of law, because nothing rankles more in the human heart than a feeling of injustice and those who suffer and cannot get justice because they are priced out of the legal system, lose faith in the legal process and a feeling begins to overtake them that democracy and rule of law are merely slogans or myths intended to perpetuate the domination of the rich and the powerful and to protect the establishment and the vested interests.
Imagine the helpless condition of a prisoner who is lodged in a jail who does not know to whom he can turn for help in order to vindicate his innocence or defend his constitutional or legal rights or to protect himself against torture and ill-treatment or oppression and harassment at the hands of his custodians.
lt is also possible that he or the members of his family may have other problems where legal assistance is required but by reason of his being incarcerated, it may be difficult if not impossible for him or the members of his family to obtain proper legal advice or aid. It is therefore absolutely essential that legal assistance must be made available to prisoners in jails whether they be under-trial or convicted prisoners.”
The court referred an incident which was mentioned in the report of Miss Desai. It was pointed out in the Report of Dr. Miss A.R. Desai that two prisoners in the Bombay Central Jail, one a German national and the other a Thai national were duped and defrauded by a lawyer, named Mohan Ajwani who misappropriated almost half the belongings of the German national and the jewellery of the Thai national on the plea that he was retaining such belongings and jewellery for payment of his fees.
While condemning such behaviour, the court said,
“We do not know whether this allegation made by these two German and Thai women prisoners is true or not but, if true, it is a matter of great shame for the legal profession and it needs to be thoroughly investigated. The profession of law is a noble profession which has always regarded itself as a branch of social service and a lawyer owes a duty to the society to help people in distress and more so when those in distress are women and in jail.
Lawyers must realise that law is not a pleasant retreat where we are concerned merely with mechanical interpretation of rules made by the legislature but it is a teeming open ended avenue through which most of the traffic of human existence passes.
There are many causalities of this traffic and it is the function of the legal profession to help these casualties in a spirit of dedication and service. It is for the lawyers to minimise the numbers of those causalities who still go without legal assistance. The lawyers must positively reach out to those sections of humanity who are poor, illiterate and ignorant and who, when they are placed in a crisis such as an accusation of crime or arrest or imprisonment, do not know what to do or where to go or to whom to turn.
If lawyers, instead of coming to the rescue of persons in distress, exploit and prey upon them, the legal profession will come into disrepute and large masses of people in the country would lose faith in lawyers and that would be destructive of democracy and rule of law.”
Reference
Sheela Barse v. State of Maharashtra (1983)