12 Kolkata: The West Bengal Human Rights Commission chairperson, Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya, will write to the Bengal govt for mandatory pregnancy tests of women inmates staying in jail and homes during their entry into custody. Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya told TOI this is being planned as there were several allegations of sexual assaults on women inmates.
Justice Bhattacharya said tthey want all jails and homes to follow the norm, and there should be adequate pregnancy testing kits with the homes and jails so it can be well ascertained if any inmate became pregnant inside the home or jail. For this, Justice Bhattacharya desired that while entering and during the time of stepping out, there should be tests for the women inmates. He wanted a proper register to be maintained for it.
The ex-Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court said that the WBHRC team visited Midnapore jail and also asked the state govt to hold a pregnancy test on female prisoners regularly at the time of their entry into the jail and while they exit for parole and again on re-entry from parole to keep all controversies at bay. However, the state is yet to send the compliance report. Justice Bhattacharya said that during their recent visit to Berhampore mental home, they found this process of pregnancy testing was followed, and so they want it to be followed in all homes and jails.
Calcutta High Court advocate Subhajit Samanta welcomed it saying that there were several instances of rapes and sexual assaults on the women inmates leading to their pregnancy by their custodian.
But Prof Joydeb Majumdar, director of Jai Prakash Institute of Social Change, which runs a home in North 24 Parganas, raised the question of consent of the inmates. "It's true that many instances are there, but while entering a home or jail, if the women inmates are unwilling to give consent to participate in the pregnancy test, what will the law do? In different homes, we have seen minors being sexually assaulted. Still, in Pocso cases too, we have seen many victims are unwilling to give consent and charges were dropped."
Professor Mainan Roy, who teaches law, said mandatory early pregnancy testing is a constitutionally valid and legally essential safeguard. Under Article 21, the state has an elevated duty to ensure the life and dignity of those in custody, particularly vulnerable women. Early detection of pregnancy allows timely medical care, protection of reproductive rights, and legal interventions while also serving as a mechanism to detect and prevent custodial sexual abuse.
Though consent is fundamental, in such institutional settings, it may be lawfully curtailed under the "procedure established by law."