Supreme Court Issues Notice In PIL By NALSA Seeking Release Of Elderly And Terminally Ill Prisoners

A Bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta asked, “Would 'terminally ill' cover the prisoners who are suffering from HIV also?”

To this, Advocate-on-Record  Rashmi Nandakumar, appearing for the Petitioner, responded, “Yes, there is one person like that.”

Justice Mehta observed, “Maybe detection is not proper. Maybe the investigation has not been done. There will be more. Perhaps. There are bound to be more.”

Nandakumar submitted, “Perhaps, perhaps. But there is one certificate that I have produced of one such person who is HIV positive. This has been certified by the medical officer of the jail.”

Nandakumar further requested an expedited hearing for a specific category of prisoners, submitting, “Will the Courts consider one thing? At least with respect to the terminally ill prisoners, can it be listed in one week’s time? There are only six states. Just for the terminally ill prisoners, I will serve the standing counsel. The prisoners above the age of 70 can be taken up in July.”

She pointed out, “Because there are only 13 terminally ill prisoners in this writ petition that have been identified. This is with respect to only those who stand convicted by the High Court and who are yet to file an appeal.”

The Bench responded, “You might as well modify your prayer.”

Nandakumar submitted “Let the states come if they can, consider parole or special remission, whatever they can do to release these persons…Because the parameters might be different for each state, because this is all life imprisonment.”

The petition filed by NALSA states, “Recently, the case of a 93-year-old woman prisoner confined in a prison in Karnataka was highlighted in a newspaper article, pursuant to which the District Legal Services Authority moved this Hon’ble Court for her release. Similarly, the High Court Legal Services Committee applied for bail on behalf of a terminally ill undertrial before the Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta wherein the Hon’ble High Court was pleased to grant bail.”

It further details a campaign launched to identify such prisoners, “In view of the above and in furtherance of NALSA's mandate, the Petitioner initiated the Special Campaign for Old Prisoners & Terminally Ill Prisoners [‘Special Campaign’] from 10th December 2024 to 10th March 2025. Inter alia, the objective behind this campaign was to ‘identify and release old prisoners and terminally ill prisoners’.”

The structure of the campaign has been explained, stating, “Under this campaign, the Petitioner constituted a National Unit, State Units and District Units. The District Units were tasked with conducting visits to every prison in their district and collect information of prisoners who were above the age of 70 years and prisoners with terminal illness... The objective of the campaign is to expedite the release of old prisoners and terminally ill prisoners through effective legal aid services.”

“In furtherance of the initiative under the Special Campaign... a total of 5,393 prisoners were identified under the campaign. Out of these... the Petitioner has identified 11 convicts who are terminally ill and 84 convicts above the age of 70 years, all of whom stand convicted by the Hon’ble High Courts but have not yet filed an appeal/special leave petition before this Hon’ble Court”, it further states.

Talking about the mandate under Article 21, the petition further goes on to state, “Article 21 mandates that no person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty save in accordance with the procedure established by law, provided the procedure is ‘fair, just and reasonable’ as held by this Hon’ble Court in the celebrated case of Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, (1978)”.

The petition prays for the issuance of guidelines for the identification and release of vulnerable prisoners, including the elderly, sick, terminally ill, infirm, and those suffering from serious illnesses such as HIV, cancer, AIDS, and TB, by way of remission, commutation, parole, or furlough, and also seeks that steps be taken to decongest prisons in view of the grave risk to the health and safety of prisoners across the country.

Cause Title: National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India & Ors. (W.P.(Crl.) No. 162/2025)