MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday directed the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to inspect three central prisons and a women’s prison in south and central Tamil Nadu over allegations of caste discrimination and forcing Scheduled Caste inmates to clean toilets.
A division bench comprising Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel issued the direction on a petition filed by Madurai-based advocate KR Raja, who alleged that he had reliably learnt from prisoners’ families that manual scavenging and forced toilet-cleaning were continuing in the Central Prisons at Madurai, Palayamkottai and Tiruchy, and that conditions in several district prisons in the southern districts were worse.
Raja, co-founder of Global Network for Equality, India, an organisation that supports the education of children of inmates and crime victims, also alleged that similar degrading practices existed at the Special Prison for Women, Tiruchy.
He stated that some women prisoners had been permitted to work at the Freedom Petrol Bunk operated by prison authorities as part of rehabilitation measures. However, instead of being engaged in petrol-bunk operations, they were allegedly forced to clean toilets and sanitary areas there, the petitioner claimed.
Disputing the prison authorities’ claim that municipal services alone were engaged to clean toilets, the petitioner alleged that certain blocks and barracks at the Madurai and Palayamkottai central prisons had been demarcated exclusively for prisoners from oppressed communities. These prisoners were allegedly forced to clean around 150 toilets inside cells and outside barracks, while only two appointed scavengers were employed for the entire prison, which is overcrowded.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in Sukanya Shantha vs Union of India, which condemned caste discrimination in prisons, and the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, Raja submitted that he had made representations to prison authorities in 2025 seeking an end to caste discrimination in prison and sought legal action against all prison officials found to be responsible for perpetuating such discriminatory practices.
The authorities, however, denied that such practices existed.
Raja further sought directions to the prison authorities at Madurai, Tiruchy, and Palayamkottai to preserve CCTV footage from January 16, which he claimed would show prisoners being made to clean toilets and drainage systems.
After hearing the arguments, the court directed the DLSA in the respective districts to inspect the prisons and file a status report. The matter was posted for further hearing on October 4.