Jail complexes should be referred to as ‘sudhar grih’ or correctional homes, as they are not meant for punishment (alone) but for the convicts to course correct and develop themselves into future assets, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said Saturday.
He was speaking during the inauguration of an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) at the Bhondsi jail complex here.
“Prisons are not meant for society to keep reiterating the mistake you made, but to look ahead to the future. It is not punishment but an opportunity… The punishment is already there for your kin due to no fault of their own, for they suffer financially, mentally. So, it is your moral responsibility on leaving the four walls of the jail, so you can tell proudly that you have become something for the society, which will accept you again,” the CJI told the gathering that included inmates.
Also present on the occassion were Supreme Court Justices Rajesh Bindal, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and AG Masih, apart from a host of judges and bureaucrats from Punjab and Haryana. CJI Kant, in a separate speech, during a seminar which followed the inauguration, said that his years on the bench convinced him that “people are not born malicious but circumstances shape human conduct long before they enter a courtroom”.
He stressed that migrant workers should be helped legally in cases of documentation issues and the like.
