Tihar to have more guards, cctvs for better vigil

With the Tihar prison under scrutiny after two deaths of undertrial prisoners since March 11, its chief Director General (Delhi prisons) Vimla Mehra on Monday met chief minister Sheila Dikshit and submitted a plan to improve security in the jail.

With the Tihar prison under scrutiny after two deaths of undertrial prisoners since March 11, its chief Director General (Delhi prisons) Vimla Mehra on Monday met chief minister Sheila Dikshit and submitted a plan to improve security in the jail.

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“The prison administration has a comprehensive plan, which includes deployment of more guards, installation of closed-circuit television cameras and better vigil inside the jail. I told them they must do it soon as it is a sensitive place,” Dikshit told HT. When contacted, Mehra declined to speak about her meeting.

HT had on March 16 reported that the shortage of watch guards was adversely impacting Tihar’s vigil. The prison, which houses 12,113 inmates despite a sanctioned capacity of around half of it, has nearly 280 posts of warders and head warders — who guard barracks and cells — vacant.

Last Monday, gang rape accused Ram Singh was found hanging from a metal grill in his cell’s ceiling by a warder. Three days later, on Thursday, undertrial Reshma was found hanging by a matron when her cellmates were away at work. htc