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Custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu continue to raise serious concerns, and the recent death of Sabari Varman in Sub Jail, Nagercoil, is the latest such instance. Ironically, the law already provides a safeguard against unchecked abuse through the appointment of Non-Official Visitors under Section 59(25) of the Prisons Act, 1894, and Rule 507 of the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules, 1983, to independently monitor prison conditions.
Yet, despite repeated directions from the High Court to fill these posts, most Non-Official Visitor positions across Tamil Nadu's prisons remain vacant, leaving prisons without the very oversight that could have caught this before it turned fatal.
Continuing pattern of custodial violence
Prisons in our country continue to remain closed institutions, with their physical design and regulatory framework creating a veil of obscurity under which fundamental human rights can be informally violated and officially overlooked. The data show that approximately 1.5 million undertrial prisoners, 150,000 convicts, and about 9,500 detainees were released on bail during 2024.
Undertrial prisoners continue to constitute a significant proportion (73%) of the prison population, even though their numbers declined for the second consecutive year. Two out of every three undertrial prisoners belong to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, or Other Backward Classes communities. A further 26% belong to Muslim, Sikh, or Christian communities.
Over the years, prisons have increasingly become spaces of limited public scrutiny, where inhuman and even cruel conditions endured by prisoners continue to persist.
The Global Torture Index reports that law enforcement officials in India routinely resort to unlawful practices, including beatings, threats, and other coercive measures, to obtain information before and during the arrest process.
These unlawful and coercive practices disproportionately affect marginalised communities and often culminate in custodial deaths.
Custodial death of a disabled man in Nagercoil
In Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, 35-year-old Sabari Varman, a specially abled shopkeeper, was arrested on July 9th after 200 grams of banned tobacco products were allegedly confiscated from his shop. He allegedly died in judicial custody on July 13th following custodial torture.
The post-mortem report recorded 19 injuries on his body. After reviewing the CCTV footage, prison staff, including the Chief Warden, were arrested and suspended, while eight co-inmates were also arrested. Notably, the incident occurred inside the Sub Jail, Nagercoil, making it a case of death in judicial custody in prison.
According to the NHRC, 170 custodial deaths were reported between January 1 and March 15, 2026, underscoring persistent concerns over torture and excessive use of force by law enforcement authorities. By comparison, 140 custodial death cases were registered during 2024–25.
Accountability in cases of custodial violence rests not only on legal frameworks and institutions, but also on the individuals within the system who are prepared to uphold justice.
Why prisons need non-official visitors: External oversight
There are adequate possibilities where inmates are inflicted with injuries, and to prevent such situations, The Prisons Act, 1894 was enacted. Section 59(25) of the Act, which deals with the appointment and guidance of visitors to prisons, states that the right to visit prisoners is a mechanism through which people from the outside community are appointed by the government to enter prisons and assess the human rights situation prevailing there.
Also, Rule 507 of the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules, 1983 provides for the appointment of non-official visitors to ensure continuous monitoring of the conditions inside all prisons and jails, particularly the manner in which the human rights of prisoners are safeguarded.
Non-Official Visitors are private individuals, ordinarily drawn from among respected members of the local community, who are appointed by the State Government or the Divisional Commissioner to undertake independent prison visits. Their appointment is based on their commitment to the welfare of prisoners and their ability to provide impartial oversight of prison administration.
What RTIs reveal
Upon filing RTIs, Field- level Inquiries across all the 9 Central Prisons in Tamil Nadu and 5 Special Prisons for Women, it revealed that Most Prisons in Tamil Nadu Non- Official Vistors posts continue to remain vacant. Earlier appointments of non-official visitors were permitted to lapse without renewal, while several Boards of Visitors have remained either inactive or have functioned merely on paper.
Prison inspections have not been conducted in any meaningful or independent manner, prisoners' grievance redressal mechanisms have remained ineffective, and independent civilian oversight over prison administration has virtually collapsed.
This prolonged institutional failure has created a dangerous vacuum in prison accountability, indirectly enabling large-scale prison industrial scams, abuse of authority, corruption, custodial violence, illegal privileges, suppression of prisoners' grievances, manipulation of records, and the denial of fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The absence of independent monitoring mechanisms has emboldened sections of the prison administration to function without transparency or effective scrutiny, thereby defeating the very object of the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules, the Model Prison Manual, 2016, and the constitutional safeguards repeatedly recognised by the Hon'ble Supreme Court.
Judicial precedents
For Years the Court drawing upon constitutional principles, prisoners' rights jurisprudence, the Model Prison Manual, 2016, and landmark decisions, including Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration, D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal, and In Re: Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons, the Hon'ble Court emphatically observed that the Board of Visitors system is indispensable for ensuring transparency and accountability in prison administration, preventing custodial violence, monitoring prison conditions, and safeguarding the human rights and dignity of prisoners.
However, notwithstanding these binding judicial pronouncements, their implementation on the ground remains alarmingly deficient.
The importance of independent prison oversight has also been recognised by the Supreme Court. In Re: Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons [(2017) 10 SCC 658], the Court expressed serious concern over custodial deaths occurring across prisons in the country and underscored the need for greater accountability within prison administration.
Referring to this precedent, the petitioner sought directions to ensure the implementation of the Government of India's guidelines issued by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, through proceedings F.No.16014/4/2005-PR dated February 18, 2011, as well as Chapter 29 of the Model Prison Manual, 2003, which provide for the appointment of non-official visitors to the Board of Visitors within a time frame to be fixed by the Court.
The systemic failure in implementing the Board of Visitors mechanism is evident from People's Watch v. The Home Secretary (W.P. (MD) No. 15321 of 2017). RTI responses placed before the Madras High Court revealed that non-official visitors had not been appointed in 48 of the 53 prisons in Tamil Nadu, despite G.O.Ms. No. 613 mandating such appointments.
The petitioner contended that had trained non-official visitors been conducting regular prison visits, the deaths of 33 prisoners in a single prison over four years could have been identified and addressed much earlier.
The government must heed this call
Meaningful prison reform must begin with strengthening the prison environment and institutional culture, as these are fundamental to the success of incarceration and the realisation of correctional objectives. The effective implementation of the visitorial system envisioned under the Model Prison Manual, 2016 and reaffirmed by the Madras High Court in WP (MD) No. 15321 of 2017, is central to this endeavour.
Accordingly, the State must ensure the timely appointment of Non-Official Visitors upon the expiry of their tenure and constitute functional Boards of Visitors in every prison to periodically review prison conditions and advise the authorities on matters relating to prison facilities, training, and correctional services.
Also, the State Government should institutionalise an annual conference under the aegis of the State Human Rights Commission, bringing together Official and Non-Official Visitors, prison administration officials, and correctional authorities to review the state of prison administration, deliberate upon the reports of the Boards of Visitors, and recommend necessary reforms.
Such a collaborative mechanism would not only strengthen transparency and accountability in prison governance but also ensure that prisons evolve into institutions of reformation that uphold the constitutional values of dignity, humanity, and justice. Ensuring justice in these cases is not only about addressing individual violations but also about confronting a systemic problem that demands urgent legal and institutional reform. The government has to heed this call.
Mouriya S is an advocate practicing at Madurai, and the Regional Coordinator at GNE-India.
Views expressed are the author’s own.
