End overcrowding in prison, NHRC tells high courts

End overcrowding in prison, NHRC tells high courts
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 4: National Human Rights ommission (NHRC) has asked Chief Justices of all High Courts to instruct district and sessions judges to take necessary steps to resolve the acute problem of overcrowding in prisons and long pendency of cases.

``Members of the commission and its officers have visited prisons in various parts of the country and have been appalled by the spectacle of overcrowding, insanitary conditions and mismanagement of prison administration,'' NHRC chairman Justice J S Verma said in separate letters to all chief justices.

He said the problem is further compounded by ``lack of sensitivity'' on the part of the prison staff to the basic human rights of the prisoners.