Which case pioneered prison letters as PIL on torture?
Explanation & Strategy
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In Sunil Batra vs. Delhi Administration (1978), a fellow prisoner wrote a letter to a Supreme Court judge describing the torture of another inmate in Tihar Jail. Justice Krishna Iyer treated this letter as a writ petition under Article 32, establishing the precedent that prison letters could initiate PIL proceedings. This was a landmark moment in expanding Article 21 protections to prisoners and establishing epistolary jurisdiction.