CHANDIGARH: Haryana jail minister
Krishan Lal Panwar on Saturday ordered a departmental probe into two suicides which took place in
Kurukshetra jail since December 28.
Panwar, who was in Kuruskehtra, said safety and security of undertrials and convicts was the responsibility of the state's jail department. "Even as magisterial inquests were initiated in the suicides, we have asked DGP (prisons) to conduct an in-depth probe, so that such incidents don't occur in future," he said.
Even as the minister ordered an investigation, he did not set a timeframe for finishing the probe.
On December 28, 2017, Jagdeep
Singh, arrested for killing his cousin's three children — who were found murdered in
Morni hills of Panchkula in November — had committed suicide in the bathroom of the jail. He used his towel as the noose to hang himself. His family as well as villagers had refused to take the body and jail authorities carried out the cremation in Kurukshetra.
Sonu Singh, a resident of
Dabkheri village of Kurukshetra, had committed suicide in the prison on January 4. He too had made a noose from a cloth and hanged himself from a pipe in the bathroom. Sonu's death in the jail, especially because it was the second in seven days, had raised questions over monitoring of untertrials lodged in Kurukshetra jail. Sources said Sonu was arrested in November 2017 for allegedly setting his house on fire. He was arrested on November 28 and had been incarcerated since then.
According to jail officials, Sonu went to the bathroom at noon. When he did not come out for long, another undertrial forced the door open to find Sonu's body hanging. He used a muffler to hang himself.
Sources said Sonu got married in January 2017 and his wife left after a dispute in October.
Representative image
