No taps, little water, inmates cleaning with bare hands: Report in Delhi HC flags ‘unhygienic’ state of toilets in city jails

– “Waterlogging was noticed in most inner common bathrooms. Toilets were in bad shape; in some, excreta could not be flushed out because of insufficient water supply”.

– “Drains in front of barracks are not immediately cleaned and there were mosquitoes, houseflies”.

These scathing observations are part of a 119-page report submitted by a group of 16 sessions and district judges who were directed by the Delhi High Court to visit and inspect 16 jails at Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli.

The court had issued the directions in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by one Anuj Malhotra, represented by advocate Kunal Madan, which had alleged that prisoners at Tihar Jail were being forced to remove human excreta from toilets and septic tanks with their bare hands or using brooms.

While the report states that the judges did not find any instance of manual scavenging in any of the jails during their inspection, they did find that eight of the 16 jails had “poor hygiene and sanitation”.

The report reveals that the condition of the toilets and bathrooms is “dirty”, “very bad” and “unhygienic”.

In case of Jail Number 1 of Tihar, the report reveals that against the sanctioned capacity of 565 inmates, it has 2,354 inmates.

On Thursday, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed the Delhi government “to appoint adequate staff and manpower for cleaning the washrooms and toilets in each of the jail complexes”.

The court also directed that the inmates who perform cleaning work “voluntarily” should be “suitably paid according to the minimum wages” or “as per the wages fixed in the jail manual”.

Disposing of the PIL, the court also directed the Public Works Department of the Delhi government “to carry out a thorough inspection” of all jail complexes across Delhi regarding the conditions of washrooms and toilets within two weeks”. It told the government that if the “number of washrooms/toilets is to be increased”, it “shall be done expeditiously”.