CUTTACK: An under-trial prisoner (UTP) recently released on bail from Salepur sub-jail has levelled serious allegations of mistreatment and torture to the inmates by the prison staff.
In a letter to the Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services, the released UTP, Hemant Kumar Acharya, alleged that three warders of the jail Abhijit Maharana, Dillip Pradhan and Indrajit Behera had assaulted convicts Prafulla Behera and Panchanan Sethi in September last year. The incident was captured by the CCTV camera.
Acharya also accused the warders of seeking leg and head massage from the inmates. Besides, the jail superintendent and deputy superintendent, who remain absent from duty most of the time, force the prison staff, UTPs and convicts to take care of their children and perform household chores for them. If the prisoners or staff refuse, they subject them to severe assault and force them to kneel down, he alleged in his letter.
Acharya claimed Maharana and Pradhan were involved in selling intoxicating substances to the inmates. The jail pharmacist too doesn’t provide medicines to the inmates and asks them to purchase the same from the market, he alleged.
“The food provided to the inmates is of substandard quality. Complaints to the superintendent in this regard yield no result except abuses and assaults,” Acharya alleged and also complained that the national song is recited wrongly on a daily basis and no one bothers to correct the mistake.
A copy of the petition has also been sent to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. Acharya urged the authorities to conduct a thorough probe in this connection and initiate necessary action.
Meanwhile, superintendent of Salepur sub-jail Rashmiprabha Ray refuted the allegations, terming them as baseless. “The UTP was released from jail around 15 days back. There is no truth in his allegations,” Ray claimed.