MP News: SC Admits Plea Challenging State Prison Law Over Bias Against Denotified Tribes

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Supreme Court has allowed an intervention plea filed by the Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project (CPA Project) in the ongoing suo motu case on discrimination inside Indian prisons.

The Court has asked the intervenor to file a detailed application challenging the constitutionality of Madhya Pradesh Sudharatmak Sevayen Evam Bandigrah Adhiniyam, 2024.

A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan permitted the intervention after hearing arguments that MP Prison Law violates principles laid down in the 2024 Sukanya Shantha judgment. The intervenor said the Act discriminates against denotified tribes through its arbitrary and vague definition of “habitual offenders.”

Under the 2024 law, a habitual offender is defined as “prisoners who are sent to prison and correctional institutions repeatedly for their crimes.”

The CPA Project argued that this definition is constitutionally flawed, vague and contrary to the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling, which held that loosely worded “habitual offender” provisions enable arbitrary state action and perpetuate historical stigma against denotified tribes.

In the Sukanya Shantha judgment, the apex court had condemned criminalisation of denotified tribes and directed that all references to “habitual offenders” in prison manuals must conform strictly to statutory definitions subject to constitutional safeguards.