A Delhi court on Tuesday directed the Mandoli jail authorities to “immediately” act to prevent alleged harassment of former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan, arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in a north-east Delhi riots case, inside the prison premises.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat gave the direction after Ms. Jahan alleged that she was badly beaten up by inmates at Mandoli jail and was continuously facing harassment in prison. The court directed the prison authorities to give a detailed report on Ms. Jahan’s complaint and the steps taken to address the issue.
Later in the day, Director General (Tihar) Sandeep Goel said Ms. Jahan was shifted to another barrack after a “minor scuffle” was reported between her and another woman inmate on Tuesday morning. “Both of them have been shifted to different barracks to avoid any scuffle,” said Mr. Goel.
Ms. Jahan had told the court during the videoconferencing hearing that this was the second incident of harassment and violence against her in the last one month because of which she was under high stress.
‘Called a terrorist’
She said that on Tuesday around 6.30 a.m., some inmates beat her up badly and hurled verbal abuses. She alleged that the other inmates kept calling her a “terrorist” and even demanded money from her in the canteen.
Ms. Jahan complained that she has been facing such harassment since the past four months. Her counsel said that two women in her prison cell attacked Ms. Jahan after objecting to her offering prayers in the morning.
Taking note of her complaint, Judge Rawat directed the prison authorities to take all necessary steps to ensure that Ms. Jahan was not further harassed by anyone inside the prison just because she complained. The judge remarked that Ms. Jahan seemed to be in a state of “utter fear” while directing the jail authorities to talk to her and try to allay her fears.
During the hearing, the counsel for suspended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, also charged with the stringent UAPA, alleged that most of the accused in the north-east Delhi riots cases were facing discrimination in prison. The counsel said the accused are being termed “terrorists” even before a final decision of the court.
Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, another accused, claimed that he was not allowed to meet his family members through videoconferencing despite repeated requests by them.
Former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, also an accused in a case, complained that he had not been provided with a soft copy of the chargesheet till now. The court asked Mr. Khalid’s counsel to move an application before the Tihar prison authorities in this regard.
