Disabled inmates must be allowed to self-identify: plea

A Kerala-based activist, whose petition highlighting the traumatic prison days of the late Professor G. Saibaba and Stan Swamy led the Supreme Court to form a high-powered committee to free Indian jails from the colonial yoke, suggested bringing in a mechanism to allow disabled prisoners/detainees to self-identify and declare their disabilities.

States have an obligation under Section 7 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act to protect persons with disabilities (PwD) from violence, abuse or exploitation, the detailed written submissions, prepared by advocates Kaleeswaram Raj and Thulasi K. Raj on behalf of activist-petitioner Sathyan Naravoor, said.

The submissions were filed before the apex court-appointed high-powered committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice S. Ravindra Bhat. The document argued that PwD were particularly vulnerable to exploitation at the hands of prison staff as well as fellow inmates.

The government has to create conditions to protect and rescue them from the moment of their entry into prisons. “For this, there must be mechanisms to allow PwD to self-identify and declare their disabilities, which can then be verified through sensitive and informed medical check-ups,” the submissions said.

Standardised and objective assessment must be conducted, preferably by field experts, for individuals who claim to have intellectual disabilities.

The submissions recommended that prison records must identify every PwD individually to make reasonable adjustments for them, while respecting their confidentiality. These steps were recommended under Section 55(B) of the Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023 issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs as a framework for States and Union Territories to revise and update colonial era prison laws in their jurisdictions.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which is responsible for collecting and publishing data on prisoners in the country, does not recognise seven out of the eight categories of disabilities under the RPwD Act, the petitioner pointed out.

While the NCRB collects data on prisoners with mental illness, there is no information on prisoners or inmates with locomotor, visual, hearing, speech and language, and intellectual disabilities, and mental illness, neurological/blood disorders, and multiple disabilities, the submissions pointed out.

It said Open Correctional Institutions were inherently better-equipped than closed prisons to accommodate reasonable adjustments for PwDs in compliance with the RPwD Act.

The submissions underscored that PwD inmates were more likely to be in need of mental healthcare. “Rule 11 of the Mental Healthcare (Rights of Persons with Mental Illness) Rules, 2018 provides for minimum standards of mental healthcare services in prisons. Its standards effectively mandate the appointment of one psychiatrist, four counsellors and 20 bedded psychiatric wards for every 500 prisoners,” the document said.

It said PwD with intellectual disabilities were the most “invisibilised” groups in prisons. They were particularly disadvantaged in their ability to access justice and legal aid, and may face harsher conditions in prisons due to challenges in understanding and following prison rules.

In April, a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath had observed in an order that the “rights of prisoners with disabilities must be recognised and effectuated in a manner that accords with a humane, rights-based approach”.