Indian Jails And the Caste System

In December 2020, an investigation by journalist Sukanya Shantha reported that caste, though constitutionally outlawed, continued to structure in everyday prison life.

Exposure of Caste Discrimination in Prisons

• Initial Revelation: Journalist Sukanya Shantha reported that caste determined work assignments, access to food, and sleeping arrangements in Indian prisons.
  • Her reporting showed that constitutional guarantees did not translate into lived equality for prisoners and raised concerns about state oversight and accountability failures.
• Institutional Failures: Caste-based hierarchies have survived for generations within prisons despite their reformative mandate. 
  • These hierarchies endured through institutional complacency and bureaucratic plausible deniability (officials simply following the manuals).
    

Historical Context- Colonial Roots of Discrimination

• Prisons Act, 1894: These practices were rooted in the colonial Prisons Act of 1894, which treated caste as an administrative category rather than a social injustice.
• ‘Pollution Logic’: A British administrative report (1861–62) on Lucknow Central Jail recorded that only Brahmin prisoners were allowed to bathe before meals.
  • Their meals were served in segregated areas inaccessible to other prisoners.
• Criminal Tribes Act, 1871: It branded entire communities as “criminal by birth,” placing them under strict surveillance and movement restrictions. 
  • It was repealed in 1952, after which these groups were referred to as Denotified Tribes.

Forms of Caste-Based Discrimination

• Discriminatory Food Practices: Upper-caste prisoners were provided better-quality food while lower-caste prisoners received inferior meals.
• Stigmatisation of De-notified Tribes: Members of de-notified tribes were branded as “habitual offenders.” 
  • They were punished more harshly and denied basic rights.
• Caste-Based Labour Allocation: Prison manuals sanctioned menial labour based on caste. 
  • The West Bengal prison manual explicitly stated that sweeping duties should be assigned to “Mehtar, Harijan, Chandal, or similar castes.”(State Sponsored Untouchability).
• Segregation in Prison Records and Spaces: Prison registers recorded caste as an administrative category.  Barracks and daily routines were segregated on caste lines.

Fundamental Rights Violated

• Article 14: Guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of laws.
• Article 15: Prohibits discrimination on grounds of caste (and other grounds).
• Article 17: Abolishes untouchability and forbids its practice in any form.
  Article 21: Protects the right to life and personal liberty, including the right to live with dignity.
• Article 23: Prohibits forced labour and exploitation.

Judicial Intervention and Reform

• Rajasthan High Court’s Suo Motu Action: The Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan High Court took suo motu cognisance of Shantha’s findings. The court directed the State to revise its prison manual comprehensively.
  • Immediate Impact in Rajasthan: Within seven weeks, Rajasthan repealed obsolete and inhuman prison rules. Other High Courts soon followed, issuing similar directions.
• Sukanya Shantha vs Union of India (2024): The Court declared that caste-based discrimination in state prison manuals violated fundamental rights and ordered a comprehensive overhaul of prison manuals within 3 months. 
  • The judgment also directed the removal of caste columns and references from prisoners’ registers, both for undertrials and convicts. 
  • Work allocation should be based on health and skill.
  • The court directed prisons to stop treating De-notified Tribes as “born criminals” and to remove any labelling of habitual offenders based on tribe.
  • The verdict underscored the Constitution’s emancipatory ethos, serving as a bulwark against centuries-old hierarchies of purity and pollution.

Check Out UPSC CSE Books

Visit PW Store

Way Forward

• Sociological Perspective: Building on Michel Foucault’s idea that “prisons are a mirror of society,” comprehensive social reform is essential so that equality and dignity are reflected within institutions such as prisons.
• Addressing persistence of caste bias: Since “if caste exists in jail, it proves it is still strong outside,” targeted efforts are needed to eliminate caste-based discrimination both within correctional institutions and in society.
• Strengthening collective moral conscience: Value-based education, ethical public policy, and accountability mechanisms should be strengthened.
• Guided by Ambedkar’s vision:  Following Dr Ambedkar’s insight that “caste is not just a division of labour, it is a division of labourers,” policy focus must be on dismantling hierarchies, ensuring the dignity of labourers, and promoting substantive equality.

Conclusion

The central issue is no longer whether caste hierarchies exist in prisons, but whether authorities will acknowledge and address their complicity. While the legal battle has reached a decisive point, the struggle to create caste-free prisons in India has only just begun.

DOWNLOAD PDF