BALWINDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner Balwinder Singh in the present petition has prayed that the Superintendent, Central Jail, Bhatinda, be directed to send him back to the Jail at Faridkot, from where he had been transferred to the former Jail.

(2.) THE reply to the petition filed by the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, Punjab, shows that the petitioner was convicted under section 302, Indian Penal Code, by the Sessions Judge, Faridabad, in the State of Haryana, and was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment. The petitioner was sent to Borstal Jail, Hissar, to undergo his sentence. Subsequently, on reciprocal basis, the petitioner was transferred from Borstal Jail, Hissar, to Borstal Jail, Faridkot, in the State of Punjab. He was admitted in the Borstal Jail, Faridkot on March 8,1984. Thereafter the petitioner was transferred from Borstal jail, Faridkot, to Central Jail, Bhatinda, allegedly on administrative reasons.

(3.) THE contention on behalf of the Punjab State is that the petitioner is not entitled to be lodged in jail of his choice and that the Government's decision to transfer him from Borstal Jail, Faridkot, to Central Jail, Bhatinda, cannot be challenged. This contention seems to have no merit. There is no provision in the Punjab Borstal Act, 1926, entitling the State Government to transfer a convict detained in a Borstal Jail to a Central Jail. Rule 12 of the Punjab Borstal Rules framed under section 34 of the Act provides that an adolescent offender even on completion of the age of 21 years will be transferred to the post adolescent section of the Institution. In other words, even a convict after attaining the age of 21 years cannot be transferred from a Borstal Jail to a Central Jail and he can only be transferred to post -adolescent section of the Institution. It is, therefore, manifest that the petitioner could not be transferred from a Borstal Jail to a Central Jail.