Suicide is a major cause of the 817 unnatural deaths reported in jails across the country between 2017 and 2021, the Supreme Court Committee on Prison Reforms has told the apex court while emphasising the need for building suicide resistant barracks.
The apex court-appointed committee, headed by former top court judge Justice (retd) Amitava Roy, has said that out of the 817 unnatural deaths, 660 were suicides with Uttar Pradesh recording the highest number of suicides at 101 during this period.
"There is a need to identify potential hanging and anchoring points within the existing designs of prison infrastructure and to build suicide resistant cells/barracks with the use of collapsible material to replace the former," the committee has said in the final synopsis of reports submitted in the apex court.
