NEW DELHI: There were scuffles among jail inmates earlier too but the level of indiscipline has increased now leading to fatal attacks, primarily because of incompetent officers, untrained personnel and government apathy, a former official said on Friday, after two gangsters were killed inside the Tihar jail.
“The current state of affairs shows the (prison) management is going downhill, and unless drastic changes are made to the staff structure and overall functioning of the prison, such instances are here to stay,” former PRO of Delhi Prisons Department Sunil Gupta has said. Gupta, now an author and expert in prison administration, pitched for a training school for jail staffers and the appointment of officers in uniform, instead of civil officers, to higher posts.
Gangster Tillu Tajpuriya was stabbed to death by four rival gang members inside the Tihar jail early Tuesday. Tajpuriya’s gruesome killing he was stabbed “92 times” using improvised weapons cut from iron grille came less than a month after another gangster, Prince Tewatia, was killed inside the high-security prison by members of a rival gang.
In an interview, Gupta said, “While negligence has always been there, one of the most pressing problems that, in my view, has led to the present situation is the deputation of incompetent officers at commanding posts. What Tihar needs right now are young and energetic officers.
A majority of the jail staff are DANICS officers. Instead of fresh recruits, promotee DANICS personnel are deputed, which leads to maladministration as they do not possess the requisite competence and expertise to handle jail affairs,” he said.