The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Public Works Department (PWD) of the city government to improve the conditions of toilets in jail and conduct the necessary inspection and renovation work to ensure that the jail inmates don't have to wait for long hours to use toilets. The high court further asked the city government to ensure that those jail inmates who clean toilets voluntarily are paid properly.
The high court further asked the Delhi government to consider employing people on contractual basis for the purpose of cleaning toilets in jails.
The case came up in court, when one Anuj Malhotra filed a PIL in the top court highlighting the problems faced by those living in jails. It was alleged that there were instances of manual scavenging inside jails and some of the inmates were forced to clean the toilet with bare hands, without any compensation. In an earlier hearing, the court had sought a report on the same.
Today, the court was informed that no incidents were reported regarding manual scavenging by the inmates in any court complex, but the condition of jails in Delhi were not upto the mark. It was reported that the jails lacked cleaning gears and inmates voluntarily cleaned toilets but were not remunerated properly for cleaning toilets.
The high court directed the jail authorities to carry out inspections in all jails in Delhi, renovate the existing toilets and build new ones if needed. It further asked them to hire additional staff and to provide at least the minimum wage to the jail inmates involved in cleaning work.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed the government to undertake the above measures and file an action taken report within 2 months.
The court further asked the Delhi government to build septic tanks inside the jails forthwith and also file proposals after inspecting within two weeks.