Mumbai: Undertrials who are facing murder
charges will have to wear uniforms in prison, Bombay High
Court has said.
A prisoner lodged in Thane central jail had filed a
petition, contending that he was being forced to wear prison
uniform, which is not mandatory for undertrials.
Dinesh Shivdasan, the petitioner, is facing murder
charges.
However, additional public prosecutor Vitthal
Konde-Deshmukh pointed out when the matter came up for hearing
yesterday that as per section 4 (I) of the Jail Manual,
undertrial prisoners facing murder charge have to wear
uniform, though other undertrials are exempted.
Therefore, division bench of Justices Ranjana Desai
and Mrudula Bhatkar said that the petitioner will have to wear
uniform, as per the rules.
Interestingly, earlier, the division bench of Justices
Bilal Nazki and A R Joshi had ruled in another case that
undertrials need not wear uniform.
Dinesh, in the present petition, had relied on this
ruling. However, advocate Konde-Deshmukh said that in that
case, the prosecutor did not point the special rule for
murder-accused.
High Court will now constitute a new bench consisting
of Justice Joshi (as Justice Nazaki has retired) to modify the
earlier ruling, Deshmukh told reporters later.
IANS
First Published: Tuesday, February 09, 2010, 14:28