The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre and 11 states, including Bengal, on a petition alleging segregation of prisoners in jails on the basis of their caste identities by the respective state governments.

Besides the Centre and the Bengal government, the apex court sought responses from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Odisha and Jharkhand on the petition filed by Sukanya Shanta, a woman journalist.

The petitioner has brought to the court’s notice the alleged practices mandated by prison manuals in the respective states in which barracks and work are allotted to the prisoners on the basis of their caste and criminal antecedents, which includes assignment of manual labour and hard labour among others.