Naya Nagar riots case: Jail officers grant equal liberty to six accused in Thane jail

Thane jail authorities grant "equal liberty" to accused after Hindustan Times report on their illegal confinement in 8X8 cell.

MUMBAI: On the day Hindustan Times reported on the plight of six accused who alleged that they were illegally confined in an 8X8 cell, Thane jail authorities started granting “equal liberty” to them – at par with other inmates.

HT Image

“Thanks to HT for this reporting, it yielded results. From today, inmates are being given liberty at par with others but in a separate compound,” said a representative of the accused, who were arrested in January in connection with the riots in Naya Nagar in Mira Road.

Through their lawyer, the parents of the six accused had on July 31 written to various authorities, including the Bombay High Court, claiming that the six under-trial prisoners were being illegally confined to an 8-feet by 8-feet cell in the Thane jail and allowed to step out only for an hour, when others lodged in the same jail enjoyed the “limited freedom” for around 7 hours a day.

In the complaint, their lawyer has said that the illegal confinement had adversely affected the mental health of the six young men, and they had developed suicidal tendencies.

The complaint filed by their advocate claimed that while the other accused lodged in other jails are treated at par with other prisoners, the six lodged in Thane jail are discriminated against and are allowed to step out of their cells only for an hour during the day.

The complaint added that many of these accused are around 20 years of age, having no antecedents, but they are treated differently and “such treatment to prisoners amounts to infringement of the fundamental right to be treated equal, at par with other prisoners,” the complaint stated.