BHOPAL: The commission headed by retired High Court judge S K Pandey probing the October 30-31, 2016, jailbreak by eight suspected SIMI activists and their subsequent killing will now also look into measures that could prevent similar escapes.
A commission member recently spent five days studying arrangements in Bihar’s Gaya Jail where a jailbreak bid by alleged Naxals was foiled in January 2008. Another member will visit the high security Nabha Jail in Punjab from where two dreaded militants and six gangsters escaped in November 2016.
Based on the findings from the Bihar and Punjab prisons, the commission will suggest measures to thwart jailbreaks to the state governments.
The commission was constituted by the Madhya Pradesh government in November 2016, and was to submit its report in three months. In February, the government extended its tenure to another six months.
The commission has held 10 hearings in which Bhopal Central Jail staff and state police submitted evidences through 18 affidavits, while the kin of the slain SIMI men submitted evidences via eight affidavits.
“The commission’s next hearing could be in the first week of June,” said Enosh George, counsel for the police and the jail department.