LUCKNOW: Notoriety is not new to jails in Uttar Pradesh. It came to fore yet again on Monday through a video going viral on social media showing inmates of Raebareli district jail having sessions of
booze inside their barrack with impunity.
While the entry of liquor and firearms into UP jails is not a secret, the Monday video refreshed the memories of sensational killing of dreaded don Munna Bajrangi on Baghpat jail premises on July 9, this year.
Even the uploaded video also flashed the open use of mobile phones by the inmates on jail inmates inside their barracks as they were seen talking to someone over a mobile phone to order more liquor. Another inmate was seen threatening someone displaying a weapon to extract money. They were also issuing directives to the person on the other side to hand over Rs 10,000 to jail superintendent and Rs 5,000 to deputy jail superintendent as bribe.
Taking cognizance of the video, which was being aired on various news channels throughout the day, the police authorities suspended six officials, including a senior jail superintendent. Meanwhile, speaking on the issue, principal secretary, Arvind Kumar, the four inmates seen in the video were booked under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prisons Act besides being shifted to different jails of the state.
The principal secretary added that on raiding the Raebareli jail remises, four mobile phones and a SIM card were seized by the district administration authorities. However, the jail personnel suspended for letting the inmates have their way included senior jail superintendent Pramod Kumar Shukla and three jail warders, said principal secretary Kumar.
“A total of five inmates can be seen in the video and cases have been registered against four of them and their transfers to different jails have been arranged for,” said Pramod Shukla, the superintendent of Raebareli jail, who faced the axe as the consequence.
It may be recalled that dreaded don Munna Bajrangi was shot dead brutally by another inmate, considered to be one of his rivals, on Baghpat jail premises in July this year. Bajrangi was lodged in Banda jail and was shifted to Baghpat in connection with his appearance in a case in Baghpat district court.
However, UP jails have been plagued with issues like overcrowding, porous security and paucity of staff. Even the CCTV camera installed on various premises, metal detectors and other such security checks are usually found non-functional. However, after Bajrangi's killing, the state government had set up a high powered three-member committee under the chairmanship of former DGP Sulkhan Singh to give a report to upgrade the security of all jails across the state.
The committee had the mandate to suggest measure to be taken to curb smuggling of firearms and sharp edged arms, a practice prevalent in the state jails. It is an open secret that dreaded gangsters such Mukhtar Ansari, Brajesh Singh, Sundar Bhati, Anil Dujana, Dharmendra Kirthal, Amit Kasna, Yogesh Bhadaura, Sushil Moonch Mukeem Kala, Babloo Srivastava and Khan Mubarak have been running
their crime syndicates from inside the prison.
The jail authorities in Uttar Pradesh often come under fire for being allegedly hand in gloves with the inmates while letting them continue their illegal activities and extortion networks from inside
the jails. In many jails, CCTV cameras, metal detectors and manual scanners do not function properly, the high powered committee had state noted in its report. After the BJP came to power in UP in March last year, over 100 criminals were shifted from one jail to another to neutralise their crime machinery.