Discuss briefly about the solitary confinement imposed upon prisoners who are under sentence of death.

In Sunil Batra(I) v. Delhi Administration, the Court emphasized that Article 21 means that “the law must be right, just, fair, and not arbitrary, fanciful or oppressive. Otherwise, it would be no procedure at all and the requirements of Article 21 would not be satisfied. If it is arbitrary it would be voilative of Article 14.” The Court further held that “a person under death sentence is held in un jail custody so that he is available for execution of the death sentence when the time comes. No punitive detention can be imposed on him by jail authorities except for prison offences. He is not be detained in solitary confinement as it will amount to imposing punishment for the same offence more than once which would be voilative of Article 20 (2).


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