SC ends caste based work allotment in prisons after journalist’s plea

The Supreme Court ordered all states and Union Territories to update their jail manuals after ruling on October 3, 2024, that clauses pertaining to caste-based discriminatory practices in prison manuals were unconstitutional. "Had it not been for her report, the injustice may have never come to light," Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said, praising journalist Sukanya Shantha for her 2020 report that brought attention to these abuses.As stated in the ruling, "There is no nexus between classifying prisoners based on caste and achieving security or reform." This highlights the necessity of a functional categorisation system for prisoners. The court declared that "the right to live with dignity extends even to the incarcerated," criticising the legacy of colonial-era practices.

The justices emphasised the state's obligation under Article 23, claiming that caste-based non-consensual labour amounted to forced labour. "Forcing marginalised caste inmates to perform menial tasks simply because of their caste background robs them of choice," they said. The ruling emphasised the necessity of an institutional strategy to address systemic prejudice and demanded that the "caste" category be removed from prisoner registers.