Prisoners have Right to Procreate, says Punjab & Haryana High Court

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that prisoners have the right to procreate. It has also held that the right to procreate through artificial insemination is part of Right to life. Right to artificial insemination is an alternative demand that can be made by prisoners.

The “right to procreate” of a convict falls within the Right to Life and Personal Liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the High Court ruling on Tuesday said, but added that the state can deny the same to certain categories of convicts as it’s not an absolute right.

“Such a right (right to procreation while incarcerated), however, is to be regulated as per the policy established by the State which may deny the same to a class or category of convicts as the aforesaid right is not an absolute right and is subject to the penological interests of the State,” Justice Surya Kant said, while ruling on a petition filed by a prisoner couple lodged in the Patiala jail after being held guilty of murder.

The court declined procreation right to the duo because the circumstances that led to their incarceration were “far grave in nature.

Justice Kant, however, directed Punjab to constitute a jail reforms committee to be headed by a former High Court judge. The other members shall include a social scientist, an expert in jail reformation and prison management among others.

“The jail reforms committee shall formulate a scheme for creation of an environment for conjugal and family visits for jail inmates and shall identify the categories of inmates entitled to such visits, keeping in mind the beneficial nature and reformatory goals of such facilities,” the order said.

The committee shall also evaluate options of expanding the scope and reach of ‘open prisons’, where certain categories of convicts and their families can stay together for long periods, and recommend necessary infrastructure for actualising the same.

It shall also prepare a long-term plan for modernisation of the jail infrastructure.

The court said the panel shall make its recommendations within a year after visiting major jail premises and it shall continue to monitor the infrastructural and other changes to be carried out in the existing jails and in the prison administration system as per its recommendations. Similar directions have been issued to Haryana and Chandigarh also.