Male officers should visit women's wards in Goa jail with female wardens: Rights panel

Panaji: The Goa Human Rights Commission has recommended that male officers should always be accompanied by female wardens during their visit to the wards of women prisoners in the state's central jail.

A male officer should also record details and reasons of his visit in the jail report book, it said on Wednesday.

The commission was responding to a complaint filed in June last year by a group of women inmates of the Central Jail, Colvale, alleging that male officers often visit their wards unaccompanied by the jail matron and cause embarrassment and harassment to them.

The panel cited rule 1445 of the Goa Prisons Rules, 2021 which mentions that "no male is permitted to enter the female ward of any prison at any time, unless he has a legitimate duty to attend." It said a male officer is not at all allowed to enter the ward during night time, unless during an emergency.

"The commission recommends that authorities of the Central Jail, Colvale, strictly comply with the said provision, ensuring that when male officers visit the female wards, they always be accompanied by female wardens/female officers and that they shall make a record of the report of the visit with reasons for such visit in the report book," it said.