This was meant ostensibly to distinguish them from children of women inmates. (Representational Image)
The Madhya Pradesh human rights commission has sought a report from the Director General of prisons after a few children who accompanied their mothers to Bhopal Central Jail to meet relatives on Rakshabandhan had their faces stamped with an entry seal. This was meant ostensibly to distinguish them from children of women inmates, as also to ensure that they do not enter again, according to officials.
A jail officer said there were 8,500 visitors, including children, on Monday. The stamp is usually put on hands of the visitors. “I have ordered an inquiry and sought a report in three days,” Jail Minister Kusum Mehdele said. “Action will be taken against the guard responsible only if it is found that the identity mark was put deliberately…. They are not criminals, and branding by mistake does not make them so.”
