New Delhi, Apr 27: Amid National Human Rights Commission's renewed focus on conditions in prisons and its plan to seek data on women inmates from all states, the rights panel has settled two cases of death in judicial custody by recommending a total relief of Rs 10 lakh, official data showed.

The monetary relief was recommended for the victims' kin in March in cases where public servants, overseeing the functioning of prisons, had either violated human rights or were negligent in protecting them.

During March, 156 fresh cases of deaths in judicial custody were registered by the NHRC.

Deaths in judicial custody form almost 20 per cent (2,210 cases) of the 10,340 cases, related to various issues, that were pending in the rights panel as of April 7, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs' records.

During March, the NHRC also recommended monetary relief of Rs 1 lakh in a case related to irregularities in government hospitals and primary health centres.

In another case, the panel suggested Rs 50,000 relief in a matter related to public servants' failure in taking lawful action.

Last month, the rights panel also registered 12 cases of deaths in police custody. Till April 7, as many as 259 such matters of alleged police excesses were pending in the NHRC, according to data.

Most of the cases relate to law enforcement personnel abusing their authority, violating citizens' rights and engaging in illegal or unethical conduct, leading to the death of a suspect or accused in an offence after arrest.

Earlier, the NHRC took suo motu cognisance of the various difficulties being faced by prisoners, including women and their children, and sought reports from all the states by the first week of May.

The issues of overcrowding, lack of basic amenities and healthcare facilities in jails were brought to NHRC's notice by its Special Monitors and Rapporteurs after visiting various jails, said an official.

Some of the other concerns raised included the violation of the rights to dignity and safety of the women prisoners, increased violence against them causing mental distress, unhygienic conditions without adequate toilets, sanitary napkins, clean drinking water facilities and poor quality food resulting in malnourishment, particularly in the pregnant women and lactating mothers.

The NHRC also took note of complaints related to a lack of educational opportunities for children of women prisoners living in jails with them, non-implementation of their welfare programmes, including legal aid, vocational training and rehabilitation.

The Commission has issued notices to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories seeking information on the number of women prisoners lodged in jails, the number of women prisoners whose babies are lodged in jails on account of the mothers being incarcerated and the number of women prisoners, who are convicted prisoners and those who are undertrials.

To decongest prisons, the NHRC has also sought data from states on the number of women and men undertrial prisoners languishing for more than a year in jail.

--IANS

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