A Critical Introspection on the Enjoyment of Legal Rights by Women Undertrial Prisoners in Central Jails of Assam

Abstract

Women prisoners constitute a small percentage of total prisoners in India. Although the numbers are small, their problems cannot be overlooked. In most of prisons in India, there is a lack of gender-sensitive prison norms. As a result, the needs of women prisoners are rarely realized. Since the beginning of the enactments of prison rules in India in 1894, different committees and commission have been formed for the protection of the rights of women prisoners in general and undertrial prisoners in particular. However, it is worrisome that their rights continue to be violated in different ways by different authorities. Through this research article, the researcher tries to highlight whether the women undertrial prisoners in the central jails of the state of Assam in India have been able to avail the legal rights incorporated in the Assam Jail Manual, 1987, and the Model Prison Manual of India, 2016. In this study, qualitative analysis has been done by taking into consideration the perception of women undertrial prisoners, jail officials and legal experts about the legal rights of women undertrial prisoners in central jails of Assam.