Tihar cracks down on rogue inmates

Tihar officials want to cut short the terror run of a group of prisoners known to threaten and extort fellow inmates, reports Ravi Bajpai.

Tihar officials want to cut short the terror run of a group of prisoners known to threaten and extort fellow inmates by attacking them with sharp objects.

HT Image

Worried over repeated incidents of slashing and infighting, authorities have shifted 50 inmates to a separate, high security cell created especially for them. Majority of these incidents take place inside police vans and in judicial lockups.

Officials have also asked Delhi Police to arrange for separate vans to take these prisoners to courts for trial. Officials want these prisoners to be kept separately in court lock-ups.

The move is a part of a policy decision to rid Asia's biggest penitentiary of the miscreants and create a peaceful living environment, said BK Gupta, Director-General (Prisons). "We are consciously trying to keep a check on habitual miscreants and it has showed encouraging results," he said.

The prisoners, who were earlier lodged in the various jails inside Tihar, have been shifted to the high security cell in Jail No 5. Here, authorities will keep a round-the-clock surveillance on these prisoners and their movement inside the jail premises would be restricted.

Infighting among prisoners has kept Tihar officials on their toes in the past. About 10 per cent of the over 12,500 prisoners terrorize fellow inmates to stamp their authority or to extort money, said a Tihar official.