Some 25 inmates of the Kalapet central prison staged a stir at the combined court buildings for nearly 30 minutes here on Wednesday alleging mistreatment by the prison authorities. They refused to exit the police bus, in which they had been brought to the court to appear in trials of various cases.
According to police, the bus with the inmates reached the court buildings around 11.30 am. The inmates, alleging harassment and physical punishment at the hands of the jail authorities, entered into heated arguments with the armed constables escorting them.
After noticing the commotion, reporters and TV crew, who were on the court premises for covering the Sankararaman murder case trial, approached the police bus.
One of the inmates alleged that they had been punished physically after they asked for basic amenities. They further alleged that the jail authorities harassed them under the guise of conducting checks and were not provided with proper food.
However, the police personnel managed to pacify them after which they got down from the bus to proceed to different courts.
It may be recalled that three undertrials attempted suicide on Tuesday in protest against denial of bail.