On Monday, the Maharashtra government addressed the Bombay High Court, clarifying that no prison in the state practices solitary confinement. This statement came in response to a petition filed by Himayat Baig, the convict in the 2010 Pune blast case, who alleged that he has been held in solitary confinement for the past 12 years at Nashik Central Prison.
Public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar, representing the state, informed a division bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan that while solitary confinement is not practiced, convicts of severe crimes, such as bomb blasts, are kept separately from other inmates for security reasons. “We do not follow solitary confinement at all,” Venegaonkar emphasized, clarifying that there is a distinct difference between solitary confinement and the separation of inmates convicted of heinous crimes.
The clarification came during the hearing of Baig’s plea, where he sought to be relocated from his current confinement. Baig, sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 2010 attack on German Bakery in Pune—a tragic incident that resulted in the deaths of 17 people and injuries to 60 others—claimed his treatment amounted to solitary confinement.
Venegaonkar cited Section 11 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, noting that only the sentencing court has the authority to order solitary confinement for a convict, and even then, for no more than three months.
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The court has requested Venegaonkar to submit a short affidavit confirming these details and has scheduled the next hearing for two weeks later.
