Women getting pregnant in West Bengal jails, 196 babies born, HC told
Times of India | 9 February 2024
KOLKATA: An amicus curiae of Calcutta HC Thursday sought to ban male staff of Bengal's correctional homes from entering women's enclosures, saying women prisoners were getting pregnant.
The report by amicus Tapas Bhanja does not make it clear how the women got pregnant. It also does not specify the timeframe of these pregnancies. As many as 196 births took place inside jails, which "thoroughly lack" medical infrastructure, the report says.
The court had ordered Bhanja to inspect the state's jails and submit a report on the conditions prevailing there. As per the order of the bench of chief justice T S Sivagnanam and justice Supratim Bhattacharya, a division bench will take up the matter on Monday.
The report also seeks court's directive for pregnancy tests on all women before they are jailed and suggests monitoring by chief judicial magistrates. In his report Bhanja states he found 15 children - 10 male and five female - inside Women Correctional Home at Alipore. "Based on conversations with prisoners, it has been revealed that some inmates gave birth inside correctional home itself," the report says. The home thoroughly lacked proper medical infrastructure.
Pointing towards overcrowding in women's wards, the report says 400 women prisoners were found inside Dum Dum Central Correctional Home and 90 were transferred from Women Correctional Home, Alipore, due to overcrowding.
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