CHENNAI: Leaders of political parties, including the DMK, AIADMK, BJP, PMK, and MMK, criticised the TVK government over the escape of 17 remand prisoners from the Thekkampatti prison in Theni district on Monday night. The leaders called for strengthening the security arrangements in prisons across the state and urged that the prisons department pay special attention to the issue.
In a post on social media, DMK president M K Stalin said such a mass escape of inmates from prison had not occurred in Tamil Nadu since 1995, calling the government utterly incompetent and incapable of protecting people. He noted that while he previously believed that the government was failing to monitor criminals on bail, the situation has reached a stage where prisoners were also being allowed to escape.
Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi and legal wing representative I Paranthamen criticised the TVK government over incidents of inmates escaping from observation homes, police stations, and prisons since the party assumed office.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said the law department was mired in controversy over alleged corruption in the appointment of government lawyers and judicial rebukes, while the electricity department faced issues related to power cuts and alleged corruption in power procurement.
He said that the prisons department has now joined the list, and the highlight is that all these departments are headed by one minister — C T R Nirmal Kumar.
BJP leaders Tamilisai Soundararajan, Narayanan Thirupathy and Vanathi Srinivasan said the incident exposed the government’s failure to maintain law and order. Thirupathy claimed that over 50 prisoners have escaped from jails under TVK regime.
TNCC president Manickam Tagore said persistent infrastructure deficiencies in TN prisons necessitated urgent reforms. He urged the state to investigate senior officials whose failure to supervise the prisons department had led to security lapses. AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran said the government failed to learn any lesson when two inmates escaped from Puzhal prison recently.
9 staff suspended, steps on to overhaul prison dept: Minister
Responding to questions on the escape of 17 remand prisoners from the district jail at Thekkampatti in Theni on Monday night, Law Minister C T R Nirmal Kumar called the incident a “breach” and said the government is in the process of large-scale streamlining of the prison department.
Speaking to reporters in Coimbatore on Tuesday, the minister said, “DGP of the Prison and Correctional Services Department and the IG have inspected the facility. Nine wardens have been suspended for the security lapse. We are streamlining the prison department on a large scale and examining the security lapses to address them.” Assuring that all escapees would soon be arrested, he said, “All check-posts have been alerted and district teams are searching for the remaining prisoners.”