E-Paper
Report on jails’ security gathers dust amid concerns for Mukhtar’s safety
The report on steps to plug in security breaches in jails to avoid incidents like one in which a gangster Munna Bajrangi was shot dead by a fellow inmate in Baghpat jail is gathering dust on the government tables even as authorities are concerned for the security of Mafioso-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari lodged in Banda jail, people aware of the issue revealed
The report on steps to plug in security breaches in jails to avoid incidents like one in which a gangster Munna Bajrangi was shot dead by a fellow inmate in Baghpat jail is gathering dust on the government tables even as authorities are concerned for the security of Mafioso-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari lodged in Banda jail, people aware of the issue revealed.
Gangster Prem Prakash alias Munna Bajrangi, Mukhtar Ansari’s close aide, was shot dead by his co-prisoner Sunil Rathi in July 2018 days after his wife publicly expressed concern about safety of her husband in the Baghpat jail. Bajrangi was shot at seven times when prisoners were being served morning tea.
Taking the matter seriously, chief minister Yogi Adityanath ordered formation of a three-member committee to suggest measures for jail reforms and security inside the prison premises. The committee headed by former director general of police (DGP) Sulkhan Singh also comprised former ADG (prison) Harishankar and former IG (prison) Sharad as members.
People dealing with the issue said the committee submitted the report with its recommendation to the government in October-November 2018 only but the report, they added, had been gathering dust since then.
“We submitted the report to the government long back but the government is yet to accept the report/recommendations leave alone implementing the same” one of the committee members said while requesting anonymity.
Additional chief secretary (home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said he was not aware of the latest status of the report. “I cannot share the status of the report on prison reforms offhand. I will have to find out,” he said when contacted for confirmation.
The three-member committee is said to have made several suggestions for strengthening security inside jail premises in such a manner as the inmates had little scope for coming out of their allotted barracks unnecessarily while also making it difficult for outsiders to sneak inside jails.
“Our main recommendation was to check and track movement of prisoners in jails. We recommended that each and every movement of outsiders, jail staff and prisoners inside the jail premise must be duly recorded in registers. Reasons for any prisoner moving out of his barrack in the name of going to jail hospital etc must also be recorded and action be taken in case of violation against jail staff,” said the committee member.
“Prisoners are not supposed to come out of barrack except for being taken to court, visiting jail hospital or for meeting visitors but they keep on roaming unchecked in the jail premises,” he said. The committee, according to the member, also recommended that the jail superintendents must not meet outsiders in their office inside the jail premises. “We suggested that a superintendent office be set up outside each jail as well for him to meet outsiders there,” he said.
Other recommendations were about bolstering staff strength in jails and doing construction work of different nature in and outside jails. The committee during its visit to Baghpat jail found that there were only 14-15 constables posted in the jail where Munna Bajrangi was killed. The number of constables, the committee recorded, was far less vis-à-vis the number of inmates.
“The barrack keys are often given to inmates only because of shortage of constables to man the barracks,” said the member.
Taking a lesson from the killing of Munna Bajrangi, authorities are these days taking several steps to ensure security of Mukhtar Ansari who was reshifted to the Banda jail from Punjab a few days ago on the Supreme Court’s directives. Ansari is said to have a long bloody rivalry with Brajesh Singh, another dreaded Mafioso-turned-politician from Purvanchal.
