The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Tihar Jail authorities to conduct a “fair” probe and get 47 inmates who had alleged they were beaten up by security personnel inside the prison medically examined.
Directions issued
A Bench of Justices G.S. Sistani and Chander Shekhar said, as large number of inmates were to be medically examined, they should be taken to three city hospitals –—AIIMS, Safdarjung and Lok Nayak. It also questioned the jail authorities on non-functional CCTV cameras near the place of the alleged incident.
The Bench asked the Tihar’s Director General (Prison) to give details on “when it was detected that the CCTV cameras were not working?... Whether any complaint for repair was made? If yes, then when?”.
“We directed the Superintendent [Headquarters] to complete the inquiry within three weeks. The report of inquiry shall be filed in this court in a sealed cover. We expect the Superintendent [Headquarters] to conduct the inquiry in a fair manner,” the Bench said in its order.
The court was informed by the Delhi Police that an FIR had been lodged at Hari Nagar police station here on September 14 alleging that prisoners belonging to two groups were involved in a scuffle.
According to the FIR, some prisoners had allegedly attacked jail officials and obstructed them from performing their duties, after which “minimum force” was used on alleged violators. It said 13 personnel were medically examined, which revealed that their injuries were simple in nature.
The matter reached the High Court, when the counsel for undertrial Jamal, who was lodged in Tihar Jail number three, claimed his client was not produced in the lower court despite a direction. Advocate Mehmood Pracha alleged that Jamal was “mercilessly beaten” and no medical aid was provided to him..
In its status report filed through standing counsel Rahul Mehra, the police had said Jamal was admitted to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital on September 12 with an alleged history of drug overdose and vomiting. Denying he was beaten up, the police claimed the injury was self-inflicted in the control room on September 13.