June 13, 2007
Seven Deaths In A Week At Tihar,
Probes Ordered By Sahil Makkar
New Delhi
The death of six prisoners and one warden within a week due to
dehydration at Tihar jail here has shocked authorities as the
National Human Right Commission (NHRC) and the Delhi government
Wednesday ordered probes and the Delhi High Court sought a report.
The NHRC decided to send an investigative team to the jail to
conduct an independent probe. The team would carry out checks in
different cells of Delhi's high security jail in west Delhi
Thursday.
"We have decided to send an investigative team led by an officer of
the rank of senior superintendent of police following the complaints
made by the relatives of some inmates lodged in the jail," an NHRC
spokesperson said.
"The team would be assessing the facilities provided to the inmates,
their health conditions and living conditions. It would file its
report in two weeks," she added.
Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna also ordered a judicial
probe.
"In the wake of six custodial deaths, the Additional District
Magistrate (West District) Sanjeev Mittal has been assigned to
conduct the inquiry and to file a detailed report by June 25," a
press statement issued by the Chief Minister Office (CMO) said.
The statement said Mittal will determine the sections of law under
which the inmates had been detained, details of the cases and stages
of their trial and the period spent under police and judicial
custody.
He will also investigate details of the medical examination at the
time of being lodged in the jail, subsequent treatment given to them
and specific details as to referral treatment given, nature and
course of treatment at the referral hospital, whether inquest
proceedings have started and stages at which they had reached.
"Investigations would also focus on the need for improving necessary
infrastructure, adequate drinking water and sanitation to minimize
the incidents of debilitation and diseases in future," the statement
said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi government and
Tihar jail authorities to file a report in two days explaining how
six inmates died in the past one week.
As an unusual heat wave gripped the capital last week with the
mercury rising above 44 degree Celsius, the first casualty was Amir,
23, who died June 6.
He was rushed to the nearby Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital after he
complained of dehydration.
Kanwaljeet, a 57-year-old diabetic, died Friday - also after
complaining of dehydration and stomachache.
Harish, a drug addict was admitted to the same hospital Saturday
evening with a stomachache. He died Sunday morning.
Ajay, 30, who had been in Tihar since 2005 on charges of murder and
was an AIDS patient, died Monday.
Vinod Kumar, 27, and Santosh, booked preventively in connection with
a minor violence, died Tuesday of dehydration in the jail hospital
after their condition worsened overnight.
On Wednesday, Man Singh, a jail warden, died of dehydration in the
prison hospital.
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