Supreme Court Entrusts Prison Disability Protections to High-Powered Panel

Overview

• The Supreme Court bench, which issued its order Tuesday, referred the treatment and safeguards for prisoners with disabilities to an existing High-Powered Committee led by former Justice S. Ravindra Bhat under a rights-based approach that upholds Articles 14 and 21.
• The order requires the Union disability affairs secretary and state social welfare secretaries to begin active participation before the committee without delay.
• All States and Union Territories must file detailed compliance affidavits with the committee within six weeks.
• The committee must draft an action plan for assistive devices, mobility aids, and tailored support that fits each inmate’s needs and prison security, and it may draw on expert bodies and civil society groups.
• The committee is to submit a consolidated status report in about four months, and the Court set the next hearing for September 1 to review progress alongside the Suhas Chakma matter.