Judgment No CCZ 4/14 11 Const. Application No SC 207/11 I am unable to accept the contention by the respondents that brassieres do not fall within the class of necessary wearing apparel for women. It was submitted on behalf of the applicants that to oblige them to remove such undergarments was to subject them to discriminatory treatment. The submission is not without merit. It seems to me that the blanket application of the requirement that each detainee is allowed one layer of clothing and one undergarment ignores the fact that the applicants being women, have, by reason of their sex, personal needs which differ from that of men and has resulted in discrimination against the applicants, who by virtue of their biological make-up, have need of two undergarments. The applicants have in our view established that their right enshrined in s 23 of the Constitution to protection against discrimination has been violated. THE RIGHT TO BE PROTECTED AGAINST TORTURE OR CRUEL AND INHUMAN PUNISHMENT OR TREATMENT Section 15(1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides: “15 PROTECTION FROM INHUMAN TREATMENT (1) No person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading punishment or other such treatment. (2) No treatment reasonably justifiable in the circumstances of the case to prevent the escape from custody of a person who has been lawfully detained shall be held to be in contravention of subsection (1) on the ground that it is degrading.” Section 15, therefore, proscribes torture, inhuman punishment, degrading punishment, inhuman treatment, degrading treatment. See S v Ncube & Ors 1987 (2) ZLR 246 (SC) at 264 C-H. Many decisions of this Court have dealt with the issue of what constitutes inhuman or degrading treatment. See for example Ncube’s case, supra, Nancy Kachingwe &