Justice Surya Kant recalls Justice Iyer's plan of novel prison system

Shimla, May 28

Supreme Court Judge Justice Surya Kant delivered a lecture as part of the VR Krishna Iyer Annual Law Lecture Series at HP National Law University (HPNLU) here today.

Justice Sabina, Chief Justice, High Court of Himachal Pradesh, presided over the session. Justice Surya Kant discussed the life of Justice VR Krishna Iyer, his contribution to the jurisprudence of social justice, legal aid and more comprehensively the prisoners’ rights and reforms in the prison administration.

He also summarised the evolution of the prison system as a mechanism of punishment and eventually, the contemporary context of prisons in the nature of reformative and corrective institutions.

Quoting Justice Iyer, he said, “Inmates are the guests in prisons and jailors are the hosts.” He said Justice Iyer proposed a novel system of the prison administration called ‘break-up and weekend prison’ whereby the prison inmates could be permitted, with special conditions, to move out of the prison during the weekdays and return over the weekend. He said Justice Iyer further categorised inmates on the basis of nature of crimes they commit – the crimes caused by necessity and passion and the white collar crimes.

Justice Sabina discussed the gamut of jurisprudence related to prison rights and prison administration. She highlighted the need for reforms in the current system and making it more humane in approach. She also discussed about the legislative action, judicial activism and state corrective measures to foster the goals of the rights of prisoners.

Prof Nishtha Jaswal, Vice-Chancellor, HPNLU, discussed the role of Justice VR Krishna Iyer in developing the jurisprudence, including aspects such as – social justice, legal aid,

and prison reforms.