ALARAKHA NAZAR MAHMAD Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) . The petitioner herein is the prisoner undergoing impri- sonment at present in Rajkot District Jail at Rajkot. The petitioner was promoted to the post of night watchman by the jail authorities and sub- sequently because of an incident which is alleged to have taken place on 16/04/1980 he was demoted from the post of night watchman and reduced to the post of ordinary prisoner. It is also alleged that ten days remission was cut by the Jail authorities because of the incident which happened on 16/01/1980 The doubt entries were made in the history ticket of the prisoner namely the petitioner herein regarding the penal- ties imposed. We have seen extracts from the history ticket regarding these two incidents. We merely found that the offences alleged to have been committed by the prisoner and the penalties imposed and the signa- ture of the Jail Superintendent are found in the history ticket. We asked Mr. J. U. Mehta learned Public Prosecutor to produce before us the record of the inquiry if any made by the Jail Superintendent at the time when each of these two incidents happened but we find that apart from the entries in the history ticket no other record has been maintained. The version of the then Jail Superintendent Rajkot District Jail was that in connection with each of these two incidents the prisoner was asked to give his explanation but he could not give any explanation and there- after penalty in each case was imposed.

(2.) We are not satisfied with the affidavit-in-reply because there is no contemporaneous record showing whether the procedural safeguards which are required to be given because of principles of natural justice were followed in the instant case. There is no contemporaneous record to show whether an explanation of the prisoner was at all asked for and whether the prisoner the petitioner before us failed to give any explanation whatsoever regarding the allegations made against him. Under these circumstances we have recommended to the Government through Mr. J. U. Mehta learned Public Prosecutor to set aside these two orders of penalty so that after following proper procedure and getting explanation and making a brief note of the material available against him a proper order can be passed such order being according to the discretion of the jail authorities.

(3.) We wish to emphasize at this stage that since penalties are being imposed it is in the fitness of things that the jail authorities should main- tain proper records though the records may be brief of what transpired at the time of the inquiry. It is also desirable that penalties to be inflicted on prisoners for breaches of jail discipline should be classified into major and minor penalties so that some summary procedure can be prescribed for minor penalties and a more elaborate procedure may be prescribed for major penalties. It is also desirable that the Inspector General of Prisons should issue a circular to all authorities in charge of jails in the State of Gujarat so that procedural safeguards are given to the prisoners before penalties are imposed and contemporaneous records are maintained by the jail authorities before penalties are meted out or inflicted on the prisoner concerned for alleged breaches of jail discipline.