Chandigarh, May 15: The Haryana Human Rights Commission has taken cognizance of alarming findings from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report titled ‘Prison Statistics India 2024’. The commission has requested a report on custodial suicides and violence within prisons in the state.
The NCRB has identified rising incidents of suicides, unnatural deaths, prison violence, mental health crises, overcrowding, and inadequate psychological support systems in Haryana’s jails as serious human rights concerns.
Led by retired Justice Lalit Batra, along with members Kuldeep Jain and Deep Bhatia, the commission issued a detailed order demanding clarification and reports from senior state officials.
The commission emphasized that prisoners and undertrial detainees cannot be deprived of their constitutional rights to a dignified life, health protection, and mental health care simply because they are incarcerated.
According to news reports presented to the commission, Haryana recorded 15 unnatural deaths of prisoners in 2024, all attributed to suicide.
The report further revealed that Haryana is the only state in the country where violent incidents involving weapons have been recorded within prison premises.
Serious concerns were raised regarding mental stress, depression, isolation issues, violent clashes, overcrowding, and a lack of adequate counseling facilities in prisons.
In its order, the commission stated that it is the constitutional obligation of custodial institutions to protect inmates from self-harm, mental trauma, violence, depression, and social isolation.
It stressed that timely psychological interventions, regular counseling, psychiatric monitoring, emotional rehabilitation, grievance redressal mechanisms, family support systems, and addiction treatment can significantly reduce incidents of custodial suicides.
The commission specifically referred to Rules 299 and 300 of the Haryana Prison Rules, 2022, which include safety measures related to suicide prevention and monitoring of inmates prone to self-harm.
The commission also recalled that during previous inspections of various jails in Haryana, particularly the Kurukshetra District Jail, female inmates disclosed that psychological and social counselors visit the prison only once a month.
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Arpit Soni has had a passion for journalism since the beginning. Now he has turned this hobby into his profession. Arpit, who is a resident of Udaipur, enjoys editing and writing news related to journalism. He has worked as a Senior Content Producer in several important roles at Bhaskar, Patrika, Pratahkal, Punjab Kesari, and Times. Arpit completed his schooling in Udaipur and Jaipur. He has been working in the media industry for more than 10 years, and his journey is still continuing. ✍️📚
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