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New Delhi, Sep 7 (UNI) The Punjab and Haryana High Court has accepted all the recommendations of NHRC for mentally challenged prisoners, who have been languishing in different jails of the states.

The Commission, in September 2004, had filed intervention application in the State High Court for impleading it as a party to assist in the pending Civil Writ Petition in the case of mentally ill undertrials and victims who were languishing in jails because of their mental condition.

The matter came up for hearing before the Court last month.

Following the commission's impleading, the court took note of 12 mentally challenged persons.

The court has asked the administration of the two states and the lower judiciary to follow the recommendations of the Commission.

The NHRC took the decision while pursuing the case of Jai Singh, a mentally ill patient who was in custody as an undertrial in Ambala Central Jail for nearly 27 years.

The case came to the notice of the Commission when Chairperson Justice A S Anand visited the Ambala Jail in October 2003.

The Commission sought reports from the Superintendent Mental Hospital Amritsar, Superintendent Central Jail Ambala, DIG Ambala Range and Additional Sessions Judge Kurukshetra.

Jai Singh was arrested in 1976 in a murder case and in May 1979 was transferred to the mental hospital in Amritsar for treatment and thereafter never produced in the trial court.

A careful perusal of the various reports received, projected a rather distressing picture. The file of Jai Singh's case had been consigned to the record room with the direction that the case would be summoned as and when the accused is fit to face his trial.

Medical reports appeared to have been sent to the court intermittently and not regularly. It appeared that Jai Singh had been reduced to a number and forgotten.

Meanwhile, in November 2004 the NHRC also received representation from the wife of Jai Singh, Ms Maya Devi wherein she had stated that she had been denied meetings with her husband who had been kept in confinement for the last 27 years.

She prayed for his release on humanitarian grounds.

As the case was still pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Jai Singh could not be brought to trial on account of his incapacity, the court was informed by the counsel that the prisoner had died in jail in October 2005.

In March 2005, the Commission intervened in the case of one Charanjeet Singh, who was mentally ill and had been languishing in Delhi's Tihar Jail.

In this case also, the Commission presented before the Delhi High Court the guidelines, which were to be followed in the case of mentally ill prisoners.

The Delhi High Court in its order of March 4, 2005 had directed the Delhi Government to adopt the guidelines as suggested by the NHRC and to draw out a proper strategy to deal with such cases of mentally ill prisoners who are convicts or facing trial in jails.

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