Opinion: Ridding Indian Prisons Of Caste-Based Discrimination — How Supreme Court Ruling Paves The Way 

Representational image of prisoners at an Indian jail.

Source : PTI

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India, led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, recently struck down caste-based provisions in state prison manuals for violating the fundamental rights of prisoners. The ruling was delivered in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) highlighting the presence of discriminatory practices — such as caste-based segregation and division of labour, and the treatment of inmates belonging to certain tribes as habitual offenders — in various