No Solitary Confinement in Maharashtra Prisons, Govt Tells HC.

The Maharashtra governance notified the Bombay High Court on Monday that no prison in the state used solitary confinement in accordance with the law. However, convicts of serious crimes, such as those involved in bomb bombings, are housed apart from regular offenders. Chief Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar, assisting the bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan, stressed that inmates guilty of major offenses are segregated but not held in solitary.

The court listened to an appeal from Mirza Himayat Baig, who was found guilty in the 2010 Pune German Bakery bombing. Baig, who claimed to have been in solitary confinement in Nashik Central Prison for 12 years, requested to be moved out of the 'Anda cell' which he alleged was used for solitary confinement. Baig's legal aid counsel, Mujahid Shakeel Ansari, claimed that Baig had been found guilty only under the Explosives Act, not the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

He also stated that Baig appealed his conviction in the Supreme Court and was authorized bail in an associated case this past year by the top court. Venegaonkar reaffirmed that isolated confinement is not used in Maharashtra's jails, saying "We just separate convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for serious and heinous offences like blasts from other convicts" He went on to say that, under Section 11 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, only a court can mandate solitary confinement, and even then, it cannot last longer than three months.

The court ordered Venegaonkar to produce a short affidavit verifying this, and scheduled the next hearing for two weeks later. Baig is the only person convicted in the February 2010 German Bakery blast in Pune, which allegedly killed 17 people and injured 60 others. Six other people were accused in the matter, including alleged bomber; Yasin Bhatkal, are still on the run.

Author: Aarya Kadam
News Writer