Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has given a shock to Pavitra Gowda, an undertrial in the Renukaswamy murder case, and has abruptly cancelled the home meal privileges granted to her.
The lawyers on behalf of Pavitra Gowda, who is in jail in the murder case, had recently filed an application seeking home meals. Along with this, Nagaraju and Laxman had also filed an application seeking home meals.
The court had ordered that Pavitra Gowda and two others be given home meals. Earlier, the order was given to provide home meals once a day. Later, the 57th CCH court had modified the order and said that home meals should be provided only once a week.
In the same case, the Supreme Court had warned the prison authorities and instructed them not to give special privileges to any accused, warning that action would be taken if special privileges were given.
The jail authorities had approached the High Court challenging the 57th CCH court order. No accused should be given special privileges. If Pavitra Gowda and others are given home-cooked meals, the other accused will demand them. Then the discipline of the prison will be relaxed, the government lawyers had argued.
If Pavitra Gowda and Ire Ibaba are given home-cooked meals, the other prisoners in the jail will also demand them, and the discipline of the prison will be relaxed, the government lawyers had argued.
Quality food in jail
The FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) has given 4 stars to the prison food. Therefore, no other prisoners have raised objections to the quality of the prison food. Therefore, the state government has requested to issue a stay order on the 57th CCH court order.
The prison food is clean, tasty and healthy, so what is the propriety of providing food from home? The government lawyers had argued in the High Court. After hearing the arguments, a bench headed by Justice Nagaprasanna granted an interim stay on the order of the 57th CCH Court to provide.
Everyone is equal before the law. No special privileges can be given to anyone. The High Court said that in the prison manual, home meals should be provided only in very special cases with the consent of the IGP, and that too for medical reasons. This has resulted in a setback for Pavithra Gowda, Nagaraju and Lakshman, who were expecting home meals.