The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has directed the home department to pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to lawyer and Elgaar Parishad case accused Arun Ferreira for violating his fundamental rights as a prisoner by not forwarding his letter on Father Stan Swamy to his mother. The MSHRC has also asked the prison department to conduct workshops to educate its officers on prison rules regarding the censorship of inmates' letters. On July 14, 2021, Ferreira wrote a letter from Taloja Central Jail to his mother on his memories of co-accused Father Stan Swamy, who died at the age of 84 as an undertrial prisoner while undergoing treatment at a hospital nine days earlier. They were among the 16 arrested for alleged inflammatory speeches at the Elgaar Parishad conclave in Pune on Dec 31, 2017, a day before violence near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial. The letter titled 'Stan's profound simplicity' was written about Swamy's time in prison, his routine, their interaction and his last days. The then superintendent of the jail did not forward the letter to his mother, and instead approached the trial court stating that Ferreira wanted to publish "objectionable material". He sought that Ferreira be warned as per the rules in the Maharashtra Prison Manual. Ferreira, who was released from Taloja Central Jail on bail in August 2023, approached the MSHRC, stating that the actions taken by the prison authorities were contrary to the law. The prison rules state that each prison has a mail branch which handles the letters of the inmates and it is equipped with necessary screening and other equipment for censoring. One of the rules stated that a prisoner shall not write any reference to other persons confined in the prison. Ferreira said that the government deleted this rule in 1992 after the Bombay High Court struck it down. Yet the Taloja jail relied upon it to warn him about the letter, Ferreira submitted to the MSRHRC. The MSHRC said it was "crystal clear" that the superintendent had "committed a great mistake". The panel's chairperson Justice K K Tated (retired) directed Rs 2 lakh be paid to Ferriera as compensation and the notice served to him in July 2021 for the letter be declared as a 'violation' of his fundamental rights. "Respondents are directed to conduct workshops/programmes to educate officers from prisons about how to censor the letter of inmates if any as per Rules known as Maharashtra Prison facilities to the prisoners Rules 1962 as early as possible so that there should not be any injustice to other inmates," the MSHRC said.
