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Prisoner's wife seeks right to motherhood

The Punjab State Human Rights Commission has taken cognisance of a petition filed by a woman claiming that the 'right to motherhood' is a basic right and she should not be deprived of it just because her husband is in jail.

Thirty-one-year-old Kalpana Daniel said she should be allowed to cohabit with her husband. "The complainant's husband has been convicted by law. She argues that being denied her 'right to motherhood' is tantamount to denial of her basic human rights," a top PSHRC officer said.

Taking cognisance of her plea, the commission called her complaint 'quite interesting and relevant to basic human rights'. PSHRC chairperson N K Arora directed Punjab's additional director general of police (prisons) to 'study the matter from all possible angles keeping in view the existing provisions of the jail manual'.

"After going through the complaint, the commission does not find on the face of it any room for intervention, particularly when the conviction of husband of the complainant is a matter of adjudication before the Punjab and Haryana high court," the order said.

It, however, adds that the basic issue raised in the complaint is one of 'larger concern'.

"The complainant, as a person, may legitimately feel that she has a basic right to motherhood, which has been temporarily rendered non-exercisable without any fault of hers," the order said.

The order asserted that the commission is not aware of any provision within the framework of the jail manual under which some relief can be given to the complainant. "In fact, the PSHRC will not even know if she is already a mother and what the term of her husband's conviction is," a spokesperson said.

"It is an issue which has far-reaching implications and needs to be debated and deliberated upon," said Charanjit Singh Bakshi, a human rights lawyer.

"Daniel is seeking the implementation of a moral right by seeking cohabitation with her husband to conceive a baby. It needs to be debated if the state can confer upon the accused [Daniel's husband] the right to liberty [by releasing him], which may infringe upon the right to security of the people or the state," Bakshi said. He said it remains to be seen if some arrangement can be worked out to enable the couple to meet in the jail premises.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact Daniel at the address given by her proved futile. The family living at Ludhiana's New Preet Nagar address said Daniel had never lived there. They said the woman may be living in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Kalpana Daniel has filed the complaint with the PSHRC giving a care-of address of one Rishi Bhardwaj, who was also unavailable.

Daniel is believed to have been working as a nurse earlier while her husband was employed in a Ludhiana hospital.