Summary:
Social activist and lawyer Amit Sahni, who filed the petition through advocate N.
Hariharan, told the court that denial of the right to conjugal visits abrogates basic fundamental rights as well as human rights of inmates in Delhi prisons. In his plea, Sahni said conjugal visitation rights were not provided in prisons in the state though most of the prisoners fall in the category of sexually active age group. The petitioner said the conjugal visits are to meet the fundamental and human rights of those incarcerated and also the spouses of those behind bars who suffer without doing any wrong. The petitioner has sought direction to set aside Rule 608 of Delhi Prison Rule, 2018, which mandate the presence of a prison officer when a prisoner is meeting his or her spouse. Conjugal visits can be a preventive step to control sexually transmitted disease and the high rate of sexual crimes in prisons, the petitioner added..