- (1.) What are political offences? Who are political prisoners? What is the role of political violence for achieving the political goal professed by its believers? What is the treatment which State should administer to those who use political violence/activities to terrorize others for achievement of their objective? Should means defeat the end? What is the state of affairs in prison? and How the prisoners should be dealt within socio-economic realities of our nation? are a few questions which, being unpalatable, have been thrown as dice on the board of this Court. These questions also test the ability of the believer of liberty and democracy to keep his prejudices and bias at bay to strictly confine to the provisions of the statute believing in the maxim "those who believe in the system, it is their duty to ensure fairness to those who question the system".
(2.) Before a humble effort is made to answer these questions, it will be appropriate to divide this judgment into five parts, (a) Facts, (b) Broad background, (c) Provisions of the West Bengal Correctional Service Act, 1992 (hereinafter referred to as, 'the Correctional Services Act'); its classification of political prisoners; their rights and the conveniences extended to them, (d) Remedial measures which this Court propose as recommendations, and (e) Conclusions and the prayer clause. (a) Facts
(3.) By this common judgment three petition viz., (1) Criminal Revision No. 4000 of 2011, (2) Criminal Revision No. 463 of 2012 and (3) Criminal Revision No. 1312 of 2012 shall be decided together. The petitioners herein, at one point of time, claimed themselves to be Maoists and are dubbed by the State as Naxalites. Maoists or Naxalites, being interchangeable words, are to be broadly understood in reference to those persons who take up arms to dislodge the existing system being aggrieved of socio-economic disparities prevailing in the State. The petitioners in all the three revisions petitions have assailed the orders passed by the Courts below, whereby their prayer to be declared as political prisoners has been declined. They have approached this Court with a prayer that they be treated as political prisoners within the meaning of section 24 of the Correctional Services Act and a few conveniences which the Correctional Services Act ensures to the political prisoners be granted to them over and above the ordinary prisoners. Criminal Revision No. 4000 of 2011;