Women prisoners in custody getting pregnant; Calcutta HC prohibits entry of male employees

The Calcutta High Court expresses concern over women prisoners getting pregnant in West Bengal prisons, with 196 babies born.

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday took a serious view of submission made by an amicus curiae that women prisoners were getting pregnant while under custody in prisons in West Bengal. The amicus curiae informed that about 196 babies were said to have been born in different jails in the State.

“The learned amicus curiae has presented a note pointing out certain serious issues. One such issue is that women prisoners while in custody are getting pregnant and at present there are as many as 196 babies staying at different prisons of West Bengal. The learned amicus curiae has suggested the prohibition of the entry of male employees of correctional homes into the enclosure of women’s presence,” the Court recorded.

The Division Bench of T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya said that the matter would be placed before a division bench hearing criminal cases next Monday.

During the mentioning, the amicus curiae also submitted he had visited one correctional home where he found one woman pregnant. He added that 15 children born in the prison were also there in the said correctional homes.The division bench also added that the amicus curiae has placed his note on January 25, 2024, and has submitted a copy of this note in the office of the learned Advocate General.

“In order to have an effective adjudication of all these matters, we deem it appropriate that the matter should be placed before the honourable division bench having a criminal roster determination,” the bench said.

The Prison Statistics of India report for 2022, compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau, pointed out that there were 1,537 women prisoners with 1,764 children as on December 31, 2022. 

“Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest number of Women with children [325 women with 365 children] followed by Bihar [300 women with 331 children] and West Bengal [160 women with 213 children] as on December 31, 2022,” the report stated.