Mehbooba Mufti files petition in High Court seeking repatriation of J&K undertrial prisoners from outside jails

STC NEWS DESK
SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 25 (STC): Responding to the request of the family members of the undertrial prisoners lodged in different jails outside Jammu and Kashmir, the former chief minister and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti, has filed a petition before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, seeking directions for the immediate transfer of the undertrail prisoners to J&K jails.
According to the reports quoting PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, she had urged the government for the return of undertrial prisoners lodged in jails outside J&K but no action has been taken by the government. As a result of which she “in the public interest has preferred the present petition and for the said reason this instant petition is maintainable.”
Mehbooba Mufti in her plea states: “The petitioner under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, humbly seeking immediate intervention of this court by writ of Mandamus seeking immediate repatriation and direct respondents, including Union government, J&K home department and DGP to transfer forthwith all undertrial prisoners belonging to J&K who are presently lodged in prisons outside the Union territory to jails within J&K, unless the jail authorities place before this court case-specific, written reasons demonstrating unavoidable, compelling necessity; in such exceptional cases, require quarterly judicial review.”
Post the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, Mufti said, “FIRs are registered and trials convened within J&K, yet incarceration occurs hundreds of kilometres away, defeating court access, family visits, and counsel conferences, and imposing crippling travel costs on indigent families,” she said in the plea.
She also challenged the continuing practice of lodging undertrials belonging to J&K in prisons outside the Union territory.
“The international and national standards, including the Model Prison Manual, mandate humane treatment, regular family and lawyer interviews, and differential treatment of undertrials from convicts. The continued transfer and housing of J&Ku undertrials in far-off states systematically denies these guarantees and effectively punishes by process,” she said.
Mufti also said that many trials involve voluminous evidence and large witness lists, requiring sustained, private, document-based consultation between the lawyer and the client, which is impossible in practice when the undertrial is housed in a far-off state prison.
The PDP president also sought various steps related to family and counsel access.
Among other things, the petition also seeks reimbursement of reasonable travel and accommodation for one family member per month to meet the undertrial in the out-of-state prison, verified by prison records and tickets till the repatriation of the prisoner is complete.
(Inputs from Agencies / Straight Talk Communications)