RELATIVES ALLEGE TORTURE OF SIMI UNDERTRIALS IN BHOPAL JAIL

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION SENDS TEAM TO HOLD ENQUIRY

 L.S. Herdenia

22 June 2017, DB Post, Bhopal 

BHOPAL: Relatives of the alleged activists of SIMI, being held as undertrials in the Bhopal Central Jail, have accused the jail authorities of torture of their kin and denial of basic human rights to them.

 The relatives of these undertrials met a team of the National Human Rights Commission which visited the state capital to enquire into the allegations of torture. They complained to the team that they were being subjected to various types of atrocities.

A few of the relatives had visited New Delhi to meet the Commission members and had urged them to send a team to find out the truth. It was in the response to the request that the commission sent a team, which arrived here on June 20.

Besides the relatives of the SIMI undertrials, representatives of some NGOs and civil rights bodies, including the PUCL, had also urged the commission to order an inquiry and bring relief to the prisoners. The team recorded statements of some of the alleged SIMI activists and their relatives during their visit to Bhopal Central Jail.

The relatives alleged that the detainees were being tortured, denied proper food and water as well as medication and forced to chant anti-Islamic slogans. "They are also routinely beaten up. Their religious sentiments are also being hurt," said Inamur Ahmed, a relative of Iqrar Sheikh, one of the 21 accused who are in jail.

The relatives demanded that a proper inquiry be held into their allegations. "All we want is that our kin should be safe and get their due rights," said one of them.

The NHRC team, comprising three officials, recorded statements of some of the 21 inmates, besides those of their relatives. The team arrived at the jail at around 11 am and left the premises at around 7 pm.

Much before the arrival of the NHRC team, a memorandum was submitted to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister urging him to direct the jail authorities to stop the torture. The memorandum pointed out that the undertrials were kept in solitary confinement. They are given only one bottle of water for all types of use in a period 24 hours. They are also allegedly humiliated, sometimes beaten up on the slightest provocation. The chief minister was also urged to direct the prison authorities to adhere to the norms about prisoners accepted by all the civilised nations and also observe directions given by the Supreme Court from time to time.

The memorandum pointed out that prisons are the places where efforts should be made to reform the prisoners. “They should be treated in such a manner that on serving their sentence they should become a better person. Jails under no circumstances should be converted into torture houses,” it said. The memorandum was signed by Anand Mathur, former advocate general of Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Anil Sadgopal, educationist and former professor, Delhi University, Rajesh Joshi, eminent poet and president of Janwadi Lekhak Sangh, Madhuri of People's Union for Civil Liberalities, Badal Saroj, secretary CPM, Arvind Shrivastava, secretary, CPI, L S Herdenia, journalist and convener of All India Secular Forum, Roop Singh, secretary, AITUC, and Vijay Yadav, Bhagat Singh Diwane Brigade.    

However, in an informal interaction with the media, the jail authorities refuted the allegations and said that the permission given to the relatives to provide food to the undertrials has been stopped as per the orders of the jail headquarters, but this has been done for all inmates and not just the 21 SIMI men. "Everyone in jail is being provided food as per the jail manual. Only these people are complaining because earlier they used to enjoy food provided by their kin. Even during searches, dry fruits in large quantities were recovered from their cells, but after security measures were tightened, now only the food that is provided for in the jail manual is being given. It is being done for everyone and not just these 21 prisoners,” they said.