New Delhi, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recorded a significant increase in judicial deaths in jails across the country in 2005-06 over the previous year.

NHRC has recorded 1,591 deaths in jails of various states and Union Territories between April 2005 and March 2006 against 1,357 reported during 2004-05.

"Judicial deaths in India are on the rise largely due to poor living conditions and high-handedness of the jail authorities while interacting with the prisoners," said Pushkar Raj, secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a human rights organisation.

Tihar jail can be considered as an exception due to various reforms adopted in the past years, but the same cannot be true with jails in other states where administration is corrupt in the absence of proper monitoring system, Raj said, adding, mental derangement is equivalent to physical torture.

Custodial deaths in lock-ups too have increased, though marginally, with NHRC receiving intimation of 139 cases of deaths in police custody in 2005-06 against 136 in 2004-05.

The number of deaths during encounters were also higher at 157 in 2005-06 against 122 in 2004-05. However, the number of deaths under the defence and paramilitary forces custody has decreased from seven to four deaths, NHRC sources said.

The Commission has time and again directed the concerned authorities to take necessary steps to curb the occurrence of deaths in jails and police lock-up.

However, Raj lamented that not much was being done to ensure setting up district human rights courts. In fact, he said "many states have not taken efforts to set up State Human Rights Commission (SHRCs) and in some cases the chairman and staff is yet to be appointed."