Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)

Prisoners on fast, want volleyball court, cellphone

- HT Correspond­ent

Nearly a dozen are admitted to a hospital on medical advice. Blood investigat­ions are being done and if required they will be fed intravenou­sly. A total of 44 had gone on hunger strike demanding luxuries in the jail.

AJMER/JAIPUR: With 44 inmates of the high security jail in Ajmer on a hunger strike for the last five days demanding access to television, a volleyball court and phone facility, a top official reached there Monday to take stock of the situattion and talk to the prsioners.

Additional director general Sudhakr Johari arrived at Ajmer jail amid reports that 13 of the on-strike prsioners were shifted to Jawahar Lal Nehru hospital Sunday night after their condition deteriorat­ed.

“Nearly a dozen are admitted to a hospital on medical advice. Blood investigat­ions are being done and if required they will be fed intravenou­sly. A total of 44 had gone on hunger strike demanding luxuries in the jail. Only hardcore criminals are lodged in the high security jail. It is unjust to demand TV in cells, volley ball court and PCO,” Additional Director General of Police (ADGP Jail), Ajit Singh told PTI.

He said PCO and television will connect them to the outside world and help them pass on informatio­n whereas volley ball will lead to “scuffle among inmates”.

The district administra­tion officials have tried to convince the inmates to withdraw the strike but they have remained adamant. The jail superinten­dent’s efforts to persuade the inmates also did not bear fruit.

The ADGP (Jail) said, “We continuous­ly review the behaviour of jail birds and following positive feedback they are shifted to general jails. It is a routine process. In the last review we had shifted eight jail inmates from high security jail to general jails”. JAIPUR: Members of the Shree Rajput Karni Sena flexed their muscle once again, vandalisin­g mirrors in the palace of Rani Padmini in Chittorgar­h Fort on Sunday evening because “it hurt public sentiment.”

The vandals entered the fort as tourists and pelted stones on mirrors put by the Archaeolog­ical Survey of India (ASI).

Sena state president Mahipal Singh Makrana told HT the reason behind this action was the failure of the administra­tion to remove the mirrors after an ultimatum was given 15 days ago.

“We asked the administra­tion to remove the mirrors as it distorts history by wrongly showing that Alauddin Khilji had watched the reflection of Rani Padmavati in them.

The administra­tion failed to take any action and that’s why we had to take matters into our hand,” said Makrana.

He also said that the Sena had also asked the administra­tion to remove a stone in the palace on which a detailed descriptio­n of when Alauddin saw the queen’s reflection.

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