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Punjab seeks two more CRPF companies to guard jails
In November last year, four CRPF companies were deployed to guard Punjab jails with one each at the central jails in Kapurthala, Bathinda, Amritsar and Ludhiana
Buoyed on by the successful experiment of deploying the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to guard crucial points inside state jails, the Punjab government has sought two more companies of the paramilitary force from the Centre.
As per the plan, the two new companies would be deployed at the Patiala central jail and Nabha high-security jail.
A formal request in this regard has already been made by the Punjab jails department with the Union home ministry, it is learnt, and the Centre’s nod is awaited.
In November last year, four CRPF companies were deployed to guard Punjab jails with one company each at the central jails in Kapurthala, Bathinda, Amritsar and Ludhiana. The Punjab government pays for the expenses of these companies.
One company has 135 personnel, said a CRPF official monitoring jail deployment in Punjab. The CRPF has made Kapurthala as its headquarters for guarding jails.
“The experiment to deploy CRPF personnel has yielded good results. As central paramilitary force jawans have much less tendency to get mixed up with jail inmates, the ‘complicity factor’ has reduced to a great extent after CRPF deployment. That is the reason why the jails department has sought two more companies from the Centre,” said a senior officer of the jails department.
Even as the jails department has not compiled the exact data of recoveries made by CRPF jawans, a jail superintendent posted in a jail being guarded by central reserve police admitted the presence of the force at certain points has made managing jails easier for them and has improved the atmosphere inside.
The decision to deploy CRPF inside Punjab jails was taken by Captain Amarinder Singh government with jails, off late, becoming a safe haven for notorious elements and nefarious activities being reported on a large scale. Use of mobile phones, with incidents of inmates going live on social media platforms, gangsters operating from behind bars and huge recoveries of prohibited items, have created a lot of embarrassment for Punjab Police repeatedly.
Various Punjab Police reports have also suggested that jailed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria was running extortion and other rackets from inside jail. The issue has already snowballed into a major controversy between jails minister Sukhjinder Randhawa and former Akali minister Bikram Majithia.
According to a report, 1,110 mobile phones were recovered by jail authorities from Punjab jails in 2019. The connivance of jail staff at various levels in such malpractices has remained a key reason.
As per a prison department official, last week, CRPF sleuths posted inside the visitors’ room at the Ludhiana central jail recovered four mobile phones. “Interestingly, relatives of the inmate had bought the material from our shop inside the main gate and the mobiles were wrapped along with gifted items. CRPF jawans got suspicious while the gifts were being taken by the inmate and four new mobile phones were recovered,” a jail official disclosed.
