Week on, jail supdt, 3 others suspended
SANGRUR : A week after two inmates were killed in a clash in Sangrur district jail, four officials, including the superintendent, have been suspended based on an interim report of the probe conducted by the Punjab prisons department in the case.
Besides ordering suspension, a departmental probe has also been ordered against the jail officials for dereliction of duty.
On April 19, two inmates were killed while two were injured in a clash between two groups inside the jail with HS Bhullar, deputy inspector general of police (DIG), Patiala Range, flagging the use of knives, iron rods, and wooden sticks pointing to serious security lapse.
Two prisoners, Mohammed Harish and Dharminder were killed and two others were injured. The injured, Gangdeep and Sehbaj, are under treatment at Government Rajindra Hospital. Additional director general of police (prisons) Arun Pal Singh said: “The jail superintendent Manjit Singh Tiwana, assistant jail superintendent Ram Lal, head warder Malkiat Singh, and a warder Avtar Singh had been placed under suspension while a departmental probe had also been ordered.” He said that Lalit Kohli, jail superintendent of Maximum Security Jail in Nabha, had already been given the additional charge of the Sangrur district jail.
ADGP Singh said that the accused had carved out the knives from iron scraps or sheets. “They had tied threads to make a grip,” he added.
A judicial probe is also underway in the case, while Sangrur police have registered a case against 10 jail inmates under sections 302, 307, 353, 186, 120 B, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A prison department official, pleading anonymity, said that the probe has revealed that the jail officials did not act as per the security protocols,
“Both the groups had clashed earlier also on April 14 in which the deceased, along with his aides, had thrashed a few inmates. On April 19, the other group retaliated, which led to the deaths,” the above-quoted official added.
“Despite the earlier clash, the officials took things lightly and ignored the jail manual. The two groups were lodged in adjacent wards of the jail. This is sheer negligence,” the official added.
“Had the officials searched the cells, which is mandatory as per the jail manual, they would have recovered these knives, and the clash could have been averted,” the ADGP added.