CHANDIGARH: Over two dozen inmates at the high-security Bathinda Central Jail have gone on hunger strike demanding better facilities as per the prison manual. Around 25 inmates, including a few gangsters and the accused in the Nabha Jail break case have been on a hunger strike since Friday demanding increase in the number of phone calls and minutes to their family and lawyers, to be allowed to go outside their barracks for walks, to work on the smooth top-up of their canteen cards which is facing issues and to install television in their barracks for entertainment.
These inmates had gone on a hunger strike about fortnight ago also but ended it after assurance from jail officials. They went back on strike on Friday and plan to end it after their demands are met.
A video of Jagir Singh, father of gangster and inmate Gurpreet Singh, has gone viral in which he says that he spoke to his son on phone and was told that the inmates have no facilities whereas the Ferozepur jail have provided TVs.
A senior official of the state prisons department said that the matter pertaining to installing television in barracks is ongoing in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as the jail inmates have filed an appeal in the HC and further action will be taken as per the court’s decision. He added that as per jail manual, TV cannot be installed in barracks of gangsters or high-risk criminals.
The hunger strike by inmates is not new to this jail. In 2021, after being shifted to a high-security zone, 12 gangsters had gone on a hunger strike in the same jail alleging poor quality of food. A police official said that the case on installing television has been going on in court. However, according to the jail manual, a TV cannot be installed in prisons, he added.