Undertrial ‘beaten up’ by inmates in Kapurthala jail
KAPURTHALA: The modern jail here has come to limelight again for wrong reasons after a video went viral on the social media, shot by an inmate alleging that he was beaten up by co-prisoners in his barrack with the connivance of jail authorities on Tuesday.
In a 40-second video clip, an undertrial prisoner, Rakesh Kumar, 35, of Jalandhar, showing his face injuries, claimed that he was beaten up by Gopal Singh Gopi, 27, of Adampur and two others in his barrack.
He claimed that when he approached jail superintendent DK Sidhu, he did not allow him to register any complaint against the prisoners. Also he refused to admit him to the civil hospital for treatment as Sidhu was also involved in this conspiracy, he alleged. The incident has exposed claims of the jail administration of installing jammers to check the use of mobiles by inmates as the clip was shot inside the jail.
Superintendent Sidhu refuted the allegations and said, “When I came to know about the incident late yesterday evening, I immediately approached the injured inmate to inquire about the incident. Later, I directed the officials to admit him to the hospital and identify the accused, so that legal action could be taken against them.”
He said the investigation is on to inquire about the availability of mobile phone inside the jail and how he shared the video on social media. “A case has been registered against Rakesh for using mobile in the jail and posting video on social media while Gopi was booked for beating him up under the Jail Acts on Tuesday,” Sidhu said.
Sources said that 13 jammers installed at the jail are of no use as network signals still reach some parts of the jail premises as some of them are non-functional. More over, they were capable of blocking 3g signals only.
Officials said that they needed at least 17 jammers of latest technology and demand for the same was sent to the senior authorities six months ago, but they are yet to get approval.
Officials had seized 48 mobiles from jail inmates in 2013, 70 in 2014 and 75 in 2015, 82 in 2016 and over 60 have been recovered so far along with SIM cards and chargers.