New Delhi, July 16 -- Denial of accessibility and essential care to persons with disabilities incarcerated in prisons amounts to violation of fundamental rights, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, directing sweeping changes across jails in Tamil Nadu by providing for wheelchair-friendly spaces, accessible toilets, ramps and dedicated spaces for their therapeutic needs. The court further noted a serious "data gap" as the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) provides detailed breakup of caste, gender and religion of prisoners but does not record their disability status. The directions of the court came while considering a petition filed by L Muruganantham, who suffers from Becker's Muscular dystrophy, and was incarcerated for a period of 11 days in 2020 in a Tamil Nadu jail which did not have facilities required for people with disabilities. Issuing a slew of directions specific to Tamil Nadu, a bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan ordered a state level accessibility audit of all prisons within six months, training and sensitisation of prison officials, among other reforms and ordered the director general of prisons to report compliance of these measures by filing a report before the State Human Rights Commission in three months. "Lawful incarceration does not suspend the right to human dignity. The punishment lies only in the restriction of liberty - not in the denial of humane treatment or reasonable accommodations," the court said. It noted that in the absence of trained caregivers or custodial policies, prisoners are often denied help with essential daily activities....