Non-veg food in jail: state says options not feasible

A Division Bench of Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice A R Joshi was hearing a petition filed by Sardar Shahawali Khan,1993 bomb blast convict,opposing the ban on sale of non-vegetarian food in prison canteens.

Public Prosecutor P A Pol on Tuesday submitted that all these options were not feasible for the jail authorities. When Pol submitted that tinned food is not available and would not last long,the court observed that it was available in the market throughout the year. The state pointed out that tinned food would not be available at the district levels.

“Then you provide a kitchen for that,” Justice Nazki suggested,to which Pol said that this option was not possible either. “We gave you so many options,” Justice Nazki said while reserving the case for orders.

Interestingly,foreigners lodged in the state prisons get bread-butter and eggs. The state had earlier said that this was because they were not used to Indian food. Prison authorities even went on to say that serving non-vegetarian food would induce a riot-like situation in jails.

Last year,the state government had banned sale of food items in prison canteens. This was allowed under Maharashtra Prison Manual earlier. Authorities also stopped serving non-vegetarian food to prisoners.

The court had asked the state government to revise its rule regarding non-vegetarian food in jails to make room for everybody’s taste and choice or it would strike down the circular.