June 28, 2019 by admin

State prisons under scanner

Chandigarh

The working and management of jails in Punjab is under scanner following repeated incidents of lawlessness.

Days after Mohinder Pal Bittu, a dera follower was killed with an iron rod by two inmates of Nabha jail, all hell broke loose in the Ludhiana jail on Thursday, when a large number of prisoners attacked the staff over the death of another prisoner allegedly due to their negligence.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, however, still tried to defend the Jails Minister and officials.

The two incidents have exposed the lack of management in jails as well as intelligence failure on grouping among the inmates. In the Ludhiana jail incident, a number of inmates reportedly went live on social media claiming that they were beaten up and harassed by the staff. The free use of mobile phones puts a question mark on the claims of the Prisons Department of being in control. No state-level exercise, it seems, have been carried out so far to upgrade security and maintain discipline in the jails.

The Opposition reacted sharply against the incident, demanding the resignation of Jails Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa as well as CM Capt Amarinder Singh for lawlessness inside the prisons. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said such a security lapse was unprecedented in the history of Punjab. “Prisoners rebelled and used gas cylinders for blasts. This is indicative of a complete breakdown in the administration of jails in Punjab. A clean-up exercise is needed and can only be done by sacking the Jails Minister.”