Order

Bhagwati, J.-These seventeen petitioners in the two writ petitions who are under trial prisoners in the Central Jail, Bhagalpur complain that they have been deprived of their eyesight by the police while they were in police custody after their arrest in connection with certain criminal cases. These cases represent two more instances of the cruel and barbaric manner in which the administrators of law deal with persons arrested fay them. The police are supposed to enforce the law and not to break it, but here it seems that they have behaved in a most lawless manner and defied not only the constitutional safeguards but also perpetrated what may aptly be described as a crime against the very essence of humanity. It is a barbaric act for which there is no parallel in civilized society and deserves the strongest condemnation from all sections of the community. It is difficult to believe how any person, much less an enforcer of law, can be so ruthless and inhuman as to deprive fellow human beings of their eyesight. It shows to what depths of depravity the administrators of law can sink in the State of Bihar. We arc glad to know that public conscience has been aroused and action is b