Mukhtar Ansari returns to children’s cell of Banda jail
LUCKNOW: Mafioso-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari on Friday returned to the children’s cell Banda jail’s after being discharged from the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, after he complained of chest pain on Tuesday.
Forty-five youths in the age group of 18-21 years facing charges in petty crime cases are also lodged in the cell.
Except for the brief period between January 9 and 11, Ansari, who is an accused in several cases, has been lodged in the children’s cell of the Banda jail.
He had been moved to the Banda jail from the Lucknow prison soon after the Yogi Adityanath government assumed office in Uttar Pradesh early last year.
The jail administration said the children’s cell has been divided in separate barracks, numbers 15 and 16, in order to accommodate Ansari.
While Ansari, a Bahujan Samaj Party MLA, has been lodged in barrack number 15, the children have been kept in the adjoining barrack number 16.
Ansari complained of chest pain on Tuesday after which the Banda district administration admitted him in the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow.
After doctors said his angiography report was normal, Ansari was sent back to Banda jail. A member of the juvenile justice board, who did not wish to be named, said, even though the ‘children’ were above 18 years of age, they cannot be lodged in barracks close to a feared gangster.
A majority of the so called children lodged in Banda jail were nabbed when they were juveniles between 16- 18 years.
Owing to a delay in hearing their cases, they have had to remain behind bars though they have now crossed the age of 18, the juvenile justice board member said.
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 clearly states that children, whose cases are still being heard, should be lodged in a children’s
observation home whereas those convicted should be kept in special juvenile homes set up in the state, he said.
Asked why Ansari was lodged in a children’s cell, superintendent of Banda jail Sewa Ram said the jail premises had been divided in two parts — one for the general undertrials and the second for children.
Since Mukhtar Ansari had to be lodged in a high-security secluded cell, the jail administration had erected a barrack in the children’s cell, he said.
Besides Ansari, notorious criminals, who faced a threat to their lives, or high-profile politicians sent to Banda jail will be lodged in barrack number 16 of the children’ cell, he said.
The superintendent said, “It’s an old cell. For several years, the children facing trial in courts are lodged here. The jail administration ensures children do not have any interaction with the remaining undertrials. As a majority of the observation and special homes are packed to capacity, the children are sent here.” But the juvenile justice board member said he was not convinced with the argument advanced by the jail superintendent.
He said seeing the activities of the Mafioso-turned-politician daily and the VIP treatment he might be getting behind bars would have an adverse impact on the juvenile undertrials.
No doubt, Mukhtar Ansari will become their role model, he said.
The lodging of children with those facing criminal charges went against the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 that lay stress on reforming children caught in crime cases, he said. Notorious Bundelkhand dacoits Radhey Yadav, Goppa Yadav, Tohini alias Tehsildar, Deepak Patel, Naresh Patel and Gyan Singh are also lodged in Banda jail.
Vinod Kumar Mishra, a retired jail officer, said the lodging of the a gangster with the children was against the rules of the UP Prison Act and Manual that states that it was the responsibility of the prison department to ensure a safe and healthy environment for the undertrials lodged in the jail, he said.