annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Karnataka
In December 2004, a convicted
prisoner, Ramesh alias Shivkumar
alleged ill treatment by authorities at the
Gulbarga Central Jail. He alleged that he
had been kept in solitary confinement
since his transfer to the jail from Bijapur
on 31 October 2004. Besides inflicting
mental torture, he was not given proper
food and medical attention. He
complained of unhygienic cells,
inadequate and sub-standard food, and
absence of proper medical facilities to the
inmates. He further complained that those
who complain of any deficiencies to the
Jail Superintendent during his rounds
were ill treated by the officials later.
Instead of providing medical assistance to
the inmates who were ill, they were just
locked up in their cells. He also prayed
for immediate medical attention of a
convict named Seenu, who was allegedly
ill critically. 30
Hundreds of undertrials were denied
justice due to inordinate judicial delay. On
24 February 2004, an undertrial Ravi alias
Raviprasad, an accused involved in eight
theft cases pelted a stone at the Principal
Civil Judge (junior grade) Krishnaraj
during hearing. Though the cases were
registered two and a half years ago and he
admitted to having committed the theft,
the judge could not pass a judgement. He
was produced time and again before the
court. 31
Hundreds of others however were not
produced before the courts due to acute
shortage of escort staff. In the Parappana
Agrahara central jail, there were 3,585
prisoners, and more than 65 per cent were
undertrials. This meant that every day,
around some 350 to 400 prisoners had to
be produced before various courts in and
around Bangalore. The escort staff
strength was 227 and only 100 or 110
prisoners were produced before the courts
daily. Mr B S Abbai, Deputy Inspector
General of Prisons, Parappana Agrahara
Central Prison, stated that they were short
of 200 policemen for escort duty. Taking
into account the plight of undertrials, the
High Court gave permission for sittings of
criminal courts in the jail premises. The
sittings were held on 14 August 2004, 22
August 2004, 30 September 2004 and 1
October 2004. In the first two sittings, as
many as 594 cases were reportedly closed.
Around 100 persons were produced
through video-conferencing daily. Yet, the
agony of the undertrials continued. 32
VI. Rights of the Child: Child
Labour
According to a UNICEF report titled
“The State of the World’s Children 2005”,
61.4 per cent of the children are deprived
of toilet facilities, 16.5 per cent are
severely underweight, 13 per cent do not
use drinking water from a pipe or an hand
pump, 13.7 per cent live in Kaccha houses
and 10.1 per cent have not been to school
in Karnataka. 33
Child labour is rampant in the state.
According to Minister of State for Labour
and Haj, Tanvir Sait, there were over
39,000 child labourers in the state, of
which the Labour Department had
123