Ranchi, 15 September (). During the hearing of a criminal appeal in the Jharkhand High Court, surprising information came out. The court was told that a prisoner became infected with HIV while being in judicial custody. A division bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Sanjay Prasad, who was hearing after this revelation, made a strong comment on the jail administration, saying that it is not only a medical tragedy but a serious violation of human rights.
The court said that the prisoner’s HIV infected while in custody reflects the serious flaws of the prison system. The court called it a direct negligence of the administration.
According to the information, this prisoner has been in jail since 2 June 2023. He was first kept in Dhanbad district jail, but later on 10 August 2024 he was sent to Hazaribagh Central Jail. His HIV report was found positive on 24 January 2025 in medical examination. The court expressed concern that the number of prisoners in Jharkhand jails is higher than capacity. Health services are very weak and regular medical examination is not done.
The court said that the prisoners get minimum health facilities, their basic rights, but the current situation violates this right. Therefore, the bench has ordered the Dhanbad Jail Administration to submit the medical examination report of all the prisoners from 2 June 2023 to 24 August 2024 in the court.
The court has also said that the officials responsible in this case will have to answer personally. The next hearing will be held on 25 September 2025. During this period, the Secretary of the Health Department, Secretary of the Department of Home and Jail, Jail Superintendent and Medical Officers of Dhanbad and Hazaribagh Jail have also been ordered to be appeared personally.
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SNC/PSK
