Violence by Cops on Tihar Prisoners Unjustified, Finds High Court-appointed Panel

As the saga of violence continues inside Delhi’s Tihar jail, the subcontinent’s largest prison complex has come under fresh scrutiny with the High Court-appointed panel probing the incident of brutality inflicted on inmates by jail authorities on November 21.

And the three-member panel in its report has found that 18 inmates suffered injuries on the night of November 21 after they were brutally beaten up by personnel from the Tamil Nadu Special Police (TSP) and the Quick Response Team (QRT) “without any justifiable reason”, reported the Indian Express.

The HC division bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar had set up the panel on a petition filed on behalf of Tihar prisoner Syed Yusuf, who is undergoing trial and is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Yusuf had alleged that jail officials had unnecessarily subjected some prisoners to brutal physical violence on November 21.

The panel—comprising Joint Registrar (Rules) Reetesh Singh, Registrar (Appellate) Lorren Bamniyal and Advocate Harsh Prabhakar—accessed CCTV footage and interviewed the injured prisoners.

All of the 18 injured inmates were lodged in the high-risk wards C and F inside Jail number 1, where the persons accused or convicted in terror-related cases are incarcerated.

The panel found that the trouble began after the TSP team began seizing the pillow covers of inmates while searching each cell. Tihar’s Additional Inspector General Raj Kumar told the panel, says the report, that directions were issued that all pillow covers be removed.

But the inmates objected to the policemen seizing their pillow covers, and an argument ensued. Then some personnel sounded the alarm, after which more TSP personnel entered the wards and beat up the inmates. This was followed by a second round of beating, as the QRT arrived next and thrashed the prisoners again.

The panel report said nothing in their findings justified the brutality meted out by the TSP and QRT personnel. It stated that the November 21 incident was a “gross violation of fundamental human and other legal rights of prisoners who have been subjected to severe physical torture without any justifiable reason.”

In fact, the panel also found that there was “no justification” for sounding the alarm, which led to more cops arriving and inflicting violence on the inmates. According to the Delhi Jail Manual, the alarm should only be used when a “prisoner is found to be missing, a disturbance is reported or if there is an attempt to break in or out of jail.”

The panel said, “In the present set of facts, there appeared to be no reason for the in charge of the TSP to sound an alarm. The prisoners, numbering a few, were only objecting to the seizure of their pillow covers and assuming that they had raised their voices during the course of their arguments, even then it could be no justification for sounding the alarm.”

The report also flagged the language barrier as a problem that worsened the incident. Since the security is maintained by the policemen from Tamil Nadu (TSP), prisoners found it “extremely difficult” to communicate with the cops.

The report added that prisoners in these high-risk wards of Jail number 1 were in “constant fear of being killed by the prison authorities.”

“They apprehend that they might be killed on some pretext and are expecting an assurance that no physical harm would come to them,” said the report.

Besides the petition filed by Yusuf, another plea by lawyer Jawahar Raja had alleged that the community of Kashmiri Muslims was being targeted by the staff inside Tihar.

These allegations have been raised earlier as well, such as by the civil society group People’s Union for Democratic Rights, which pointed out the specific targetting of the community by other inmates and staff.

In fact, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on November 28 spoke to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, and expressed concern over the several reports and complaints of alleged torture of Kashmiri Muslims inside Tihar. Gauba assured Mufti of a thorough investigation into the matter. Home Ministry officials have reportedly asked the Delhi Lieutenant Governor’s office to look into the issue, while Tihar authorities have been directed to ensure security for prisoners.