New Delhi, Oct 15: The high court today asked the Delhi government to inform it what all basic facilities were being provided to inmates in Tihar Jail which at present accommodates 12,786 undertrials and convicts, over three times the sanctioned capacity of 4,000. The direction came from a division bench of Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice A K Sikri on a PIL filed by advocate L R Luthra who alleged that the inmates were "not being treated as human beings".

The bench directed Mukta Gupta, the counsel representing the city government and Tihar Jail, to file within one-and-a- half months an affidavit detailing the basic facilities available to the inmates in Tihar Central Jail. Earlier, district and sessions judge J P Singh had reported to the high court that the living conditions of the jail inmates required "betterment and improvement".

However, the district and sessions judge, who visited Tihar Jail Complex along with additional sessions Judge P K Bhasin, and also obtained comments from other inspecting judges, rejected Luthra's allegations that the inmates were "not being treated as human beings". Three new jails would start functioning in the national capital in 2004 leading to decongestion of Tihar Central Jail, Gupta submitted.

Bureau Report