Try to allow prisoners to have sex with wives: HC

Mumbai, Jan 15: Wondering if the rise in HIV positive cases in prisons could be due to unprotected or unnatural sex, the Bombay High court has asked the Maharashtra government to look into the possibility of allowing the prisoners to have have sex with their wives in privacy.

Explore the possibility of facilitating prisoners, who have been lodged for two to three years in jails, to meet their wives sometime every month in total privacy, Justice P B Majumdar and Justice R G Ketkar told the state government.

Justice Majumdar said, "There may be physical needs. See whether a separate place can be given to a prisoner and his wife for a day or two. The government is spending crores of rupees to curb the AIDS menace in jails. Instead why don't you take preventive steps?"

This order came when the court was hearing a PIL on treatment facilities for HIV positive prisoners.

"Whether we like it or not, there is sex in jails. It is an issue which everyone wants to sweep under the carpet," said advocate Anand Grover, appointed amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the case.

He further pointed out that allowing conjugal rights to prisoners was an accepted norm in some Asian and European countries.

OneIndia News