The Civil Jails Act, 1874

GOVERNMENT OF GUJARAT

LEGISLATIVE PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT

BOMBAY ACT NO. II OF 1874

THE CIVIL JAILS ACT,1874.

(As modified upto the 31st October, 2006)

THE CIVIL JAILS ACT, 1874. .................................... CONTENTS PREAMBLE [Repealed.]

PARTS I AND II.

PAGE NO.

SECTIONS. 1 to 7. [Repealed.] 1

PARTS III.

[Limitation of application of Part III.] Rep. Act IX of 1894.

There shall be a civil jail at the seat of the District Court for each district created under section 3 of Act XIV of 1869 : Provided that it shall be in the power of the [State Government] to establish civil jails at other convenient places.

The nazir of the District Court or of the Chief Civil Court at the place where the civil jail is located shall be ex-officio keeper of the civil jail, and shall be responsible for the safe custody of the prisoners and for the preservation of cleanliness and good order in the jail and among the prisoners, and shall have such establishment under him as the District Judge, with the sanction of the [State Government] may direct.

The Judge or the Assistant Judge of the district in which a civil jail is situated shall visit such civil jail at least once in each month, and shall issue in writing such orders connected with the economy of the jail, the good management, health and accommodation of the prisoners, as he may think fit.

He shall record the date of his visit, and any remarks he may have to make, in a book to be kept for the purpose.

A medical officer to be appointed by the State Government shall attend the civil jail, and shall be found to offer such advice to the District Judge, or other officer in charge of the civil jail, as may seem expedient to him with regard to the sanitary state of the jail and of the prisoners. He shall also administer remedies at the expense of State Government to the sick : Provided that nothing contained in this section shall prevent a prisoner in a civil jail employing at his own expense any medical man he may think fit to consult.

The civil jail shall be daily for the admission of those wishing to visit prisoners from 9 am. till 3 pm., and no stranger shall be allowed to remain in the civil jail beyond the abovementioned hours except by permission of the Judge, the Assistant Judge of the district, or on the recommendation of the medical officer by the permission of the nazir in charge of the jail.

(1) Prisoners, in the civil jail may either make their own arrangements for their subsistence, or may, within the amount of subsistence-money or batta furnished by the party at whose suit they are detained, require the nazir to furnish their food and other necessaries out of the subsistence-money fixed for them by the Court by which they are committed : Provided that excess in the use of intoxicating liquors or drugs be strictly prohibited. A tariff of prices approved by the District Judge on the first day of each month shall be kept in each civil jail and shall be accessible to all the prisoners. (2) Every civil prisoner unable to provide himself with sufficient clothing and bedding shall be supplied by the nazir with such clothing and bedding as may be ordered by the Judge or Assistant Judge under the provisions of section 11 of this Act. When any such prisoner has been committed to prison in execution of a decree in favour of a private person, such person, or his representative, shall be liable to pay to the nazir on demand in writing the cost of the clothing and bedding so supplied to the prisoner ; and in default of such payment the prisoner shall be released.

When a prisoner shall die in the civil jail, the nazir shall immediately report such death to the nearest Magistrate, who shall thereupon inquire into the cause of such death, and make a written report thereon to the Inspector-General of Prisons, and the corpse of such prisoner shall, after the medical officer appointed under section 12 * *9 has certified to his death, be made over to his relatives or friends 10[if any be present and willing to take charge of it]. 11[If no relatives or friend of a prisoner who has died in prison is present and willing to receive and dispose of his corpse, it shall be buried, burnt or otherwise disposed of.]

If at the time of a prisoner’s death or release, any of the subsistence-money furnished by the party at whose suit such prisoner was detained, remains unexpended, notice shall be forthwith given to the party paying the same, and the balance so remaining unexpended shall be returned to such party or his representatives : Provided that he or they claim payment thereof within three months from the date of such notice ; failing which such balance shall become the property of 13[the State Government]. The cost of disposing of the corpses of deceased prisoners under clause 2 of the last preceding section, and of procuring comforts for sick prisoners, and generally for the maintenance of the civil jail, shall be provided by 14[the 15[State Government] subject to such rules as 14[the 15[State] Government] may from time to time prescribed in this behalf.]