NEW DELHI: Lauding the Supreme Court judgment declaring provisions in prison manuals which perpetuate caste discrimination as ‘unconstitutional’, the Left parties on Friday sought elimination of the prevailing practice within three months and implementation of the apex court directives in letter and spirit.Through a statement, the polit bureau of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) said that the verdict by the three Judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud is an important intervention by the judiciary in the much-needed battle against the obnoxious caste system.“Pointing out the presence of provisions which subject the prisoners to work assignments, housing arrangements and food preparations based on caste bias and notions of untouchability, it directed the Central and state governments to remove all of them from the prison manuals. The CPM demands that all the governments should initiate measures suggested by the Court within the stipulated time of three months to eliminate caste-based discrimination in prison life,” read the statement.The SC on Thursday banned caste-based discrimination like division of manual labour, segregation of barracks and bias against prisoners of de-notified tribes and habitual offenders by holding it as ‘unconstitutional’. It also quashed jail manual rules of 10 states for fostering such biases.CPI general secretary D Raja said that pronouncing the practice as unconstitutional and order to delete the column of caste in prison is a late but a welcoming step.“While welcoming the judgment, the CPI urges all fellow-travellers on the path of social-justice to ensure that SC directives are implemented in all states in letter and spirit. The horrendous face of caste discrimination is not limited to registers, but it is all encompassing for those who are condemned to live at the bottom of caste hierarchy. Thus, our struggle is against caste discrimination must tackle all heads of the hydra-headed monster,” said Raja.He further said that the judgment is also an opportunity to take a look at the condition of the police, prison and judicial system. “The CPI has always been a strong advocate of prison, police and judicial reforms. In the tenure of CPI leader Comrade Indrajit Gupta as Home Minister, he tried to make the country’s penal justice system humane and in tune with democratic norms. We should further strive for a comprehensive reform of the penal justice system and leave no space for discrimination,” the CPI leader said.
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