Kathmandu, June 19:

The Supreme Court today directed the government authorities to scrap some provisions in the Prison Act 1962 that allow prison authorities to torture inmates and keep them handcuffed inside the jail.

A three-member bench of Justices Anup Raj Sharma, Kalyan Shrestha and Top Bahadur Magar ordered the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs to scrap the provisions of the Act.

The clause 22 of the Act allows the prison authorities to keep the prisoners handcuffed

if found involved in violent activities like beating up of jail staffers and attempting to escape from the prisons.

Advocate Achyut Prasad Kharel had challenged the provisions, alleging jail authorities of torturing the prisoners contravening the Article 1(2) of the Convention Against Torture, 1989.