Pak inmate beaten up in Jammu prison
Ex-soldier attacks prisoner held in terror case
A 54-year-old Pakistani prisoner was critically injured after he was attacked early on Friday by a fellow inmate, a court-martialled Indian soldier who is also serving a life term for murder in the high-security Kot Balwal jail on the outskirts of Jammu.
The Pakistani, Rana Sanaullah Haq, was shifted to Chandigarh’s PGI Hospital where he is reported to be “stable.”
The assault took place when the inmates were gardening. Haq was immediately shifted to Jammu’s government-run Medical College Hospital and later flown to the larger hospital in Chandigarh as his condition was “very critical” (severe head injuries and multiple fractures). His Glasgow Coma Scale was pretty low, hospital superinten- dent Manoj Chalotra said.
The attack took place a day after Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh died after being assaulted by fellow inmates in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison.
Haq had been in Kot Balwal jail for 17 years. He had sneaked into J&K from PoK in 1994 to join the “armed struggle to free Kashmir” and is accused of detonating bombs at electric towers and government buildings in the state.
A resident of Daluwali, near Sialkot, Pakistan, he was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court in 2008. There are five cases registered against him across J&K for alleged involvement in terror incidents.
A case has been filed against assailant Vinod Kumar.
India late on Saturday granted consular access to Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay, who was injured in a scuffle in a Jammu jail.
Three Pakistan High Commission officials were granted permission by the ministry of external affairs to meet Ranjay at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science and Research, Chandigarh, where he is receiving treatment.
Ranjay was injured during a scuffle with another inmate in Jammu jail where he was serving life term after being convicted under TADA provisions. He was arrested in 1999.
The incident involving Sanaullah comes a day after the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh after a murderous attack on him in a Lahore prison.
Two prison officials including jail superintendent Rajni Sehgal have been suspended by the Jammu and Kashmir government which ordered an enquiry by divisional commissioner (Jammu). “We are looking into the matter and two persons including jail superintendent have been suspended,” director general of prison K. Rajendra said.