Alarming rise in women prisoners getting pregnant in Bengal correctional homes
The Calcutta High Court has expressed a grave concern regarding the situation of female prisoners in Bengal’s correctional homes (jails). The court was also alerted by the amicus curiae to the alarming issue of women detainees becoming pregnant while in custody, with an estimated 196 babies reportedly born in various correctional facilities across the state.
This revelation occurred during the discussion of a case pertaining to prison reforms and correctional homes in Bengal. Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya, presiding over a division bench, took a serious note of the matter and scheduled it for hearing before a division bench specialising in criminal cases on Monday.
The report by amicus curiae Tapas Bhanja fails to provide clarity on how the women became pregnant and does not specify the timeline of these pregnancies. As many as 196 births occurred within correctional homes, which the report describes as lacking adequate medical infrastructure.
The court had instructed Bhanja to inspect the state’s correctional facilities.
The report requests the court to mandate pregnancy tests for all women before their incarceration and proposes oversight by chief judicial magistrates.
In his findings, Bhanja states that he encountered 15 children – 10 boys and five girls – inside the Women’s Correctional Home at Alipore. “Based on discussions with inmates, it has been disclosed that some prisoners gave birth within the correctional facility itself,” the report notes, emphasising the deficient medical infrastructure in the home.
Highlighting overcrowding in women’s wards, the report indicates that 400 female prisoners were housed in Dum Dum Central Correctional Home, with 90 transferred from Women’s Correctional Home, Alipore due to overcrowding.
