ACCESS TO UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE: A SOCIO-LEGAL STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PRISONERS IN INDIA

Abstract

In India, the right to healthcare is constituted under Article 21 and forms an essential part of the constitutional guarantee. However, the health rights of prisoners and undertrials remain at a critical juncture, challenging human dignity and constitutional assurance. Although prisoners and undertrials are deprived of their personal liberty, and that too by procedures established by law, this does not waive their fundamental rights. Indian courts have repeatedly held that the right to life does not mean mere animal existence but life with dignity, which includes within its sphere the right to health and medical care, and that the State bears a heightened obligation towards persons in its custody. Though procedural safeguards for prisoner healthcare exist under enactments including the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 and the Prisons Act, 1894, their practical implementation remains inadequate. This paper examines Universal Health Coverage as a Sustainable Development Goal, the international human rights instruments governing healthcare standards owed to prisoners, India's constitutional provisions, national laws and policies, and the judicial approach to prisoner healthcare rights. It highlights persistent concerns including overcrowding, inadequate medical infrastructure, weak enforcement, and indifference toward prisoners' mental health, and it concludes that a dedicated legislative framework aligned with international standards, rather than continued reliance on case-by-case judicial correction, is necessary to secure dignity, equality and the rule of law in India's prison healthcare administration.