Human Rights of Prisoners

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

“The poor, illiterate and weaker sections in our society in our country suffer day in and day out in their struggle for survival and look to those who have promised them equality- social, political and economic”.
Ex-Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand
Social change is the necessity of any society. In India, much of its credit goes to Public Interest Litigation. PIL is a socio-economic movement generated by the judiciary to reach justice especially to the weaker sections of the society from whom even after years of independence justice is merely a teasing illusion.   The term PIL comes to us from American jurisdiction where it was designed to provide legal representation to previously unrepresented groups and interests. The necessity for this was the recognition that the ordinary market place for legal services fails to provide such services to significant segments of the American population and to significant interests. Such groups and interest includes poor, environmentalists, racial and ethnic minorities, and others. The idea of PIL came from actio popularis of the Roman Jurisprudence which allowed Court access to every citizen in the matters of public wrong. Thus this innovative strategy while providing easy access to justice to the weaker sections of the Indian society also provides a powerful tool in the hands of public — spirited individuals and social action groups for combating exploitation and injustice and securing for the underprivileged segment of the society, their social and economic entitlements.

PIL has become an instrument of social transformation. It is helpful in bringing justice within the reach of poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable people. Moreover PIL has been developing as an instrument of human rights protection. In fact its intention is to uphold the public interest by providing socio-economic and political justice to a large number of people who are poor, lacking in knowledge of the law, socially and...