During a hearing regarding a petition addressing the issue of overcrowding in prisons, the Supreme Court has requested both the Central government and the state governments to provide information regarding the accessibility of medical services for inmates and the availability of vocational training programs for them.

The top court is hearing a case related to alleged 'inhuman conditions' prevailing in 1,382 jails across the country. The court also asked the Center and states to file affidavits giving details about the availability of adequate IT infrastructure for conducting court proceedings digitally and visitation rights of family members of jailed people. 

When the matter came up for hearing before a division bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Rajesh Bindal, it said that the sixth, seventh and eighth preliminary reports and the final summary of the report of December last year were presented by the apex court-appointed prison reforms committee.

Back in September 2018, the Supreme court had constituted a three-member committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice (retd) Amitav Rai to look into issues related to prison reforms and give recommendations on various aspects including overcrowding in prisons.

The bench on Tuesday asked amicus curiae Gaurav Aggarwal in the matter to share copies of the report with the counsel for the Government of India and the state governments. The bench said that some time was sought by the counsel for the parties to study the report and assist the court on the next date of hearing, which was granted to them.