Mr. Surya Kant J.: - The petitioners are husband and wife, respectively. They were tried for an offence under Section 302/364-A/201/120-B IPC for kidnapping and brutally murdering a 16 year old minor for ransom. The trial court awarded them death sentence which was confirmed by this Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court dismissed their Criminal Appeal No.1396 of 2007 vide order dated January 25, 2010 but commuted the death sentence awarded to petitioner No.2 (wife) into life imprisonment.

2. The petitioners now seek enforcement of their perceived right to have conjugal life and procreate within the jail premises. The issues raised by them are indeed of paramount public importance. Equally significant are the related issues hovering around the concept of ‘reasonable restrictions’ or ‘the extent of suspension of some of the fundamental rights during incarceration’, ‘radical jail reforms’, ‘the status of prisoners as protected citizen’ within the Constitutional framework as well as the ‘international perspective on the right to conjugal life in the precincts of jail’, which too call for discussion.

3. The petitioners are currently lodged in the Central Jail at Patiala in separate