Punjab jail-break is only one of many incidents
The recent incident of Nabha jail-break by Harminder Singh Mintoo, the chief of the banned Khalistan liberation Force (KlF), is shocking. However, a joint operation team of the Delhi and Punjab police which caught him immediately after a day, showed how alert our security forces were. Reports say that Mintoo was in touch with Pakistan-based terror outfits, the senior officials of the Pakistan Army and, most importantly, with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). These are all old gameplans of Pakistan, through which the country has been trying either to shift its nefarious plans from Jammu & Kashmir to Punjab or to solely focus on vulnerable points with the help of militants based in its territory.
Sources say that Pakistan's harbouring of the Khalistani terror organisations like the Babbar Khalsa International, the Khalistan Tiger's Force (Nijjar-led), the International Sikh Youth Federation and the Khalistan Zindabad Force, is only encouraging such incidents to revive the old terror. Sensing this, the Government of India, particularly the States that are vulnerable to Islamist militancy, should take extraordinary precautionary measures to thwart these kinds of episodes in our jails. It must not be treated only as an instance of security lapse, but also needs to be examined as a huge network that the Pakistan-based Islamists have built with the inmates of Indian jails over the years. Thus, the Mintoo saga and another one that took place in Madhya Prdesh in the same month, should not be simply brushed aside as a seasonal incident. It must be taken as a wake-up call by the prison authorities across India. Also, prisons should not be left entirely to the States, just because prison is listed as a State subject.
The National Crime Records Bureau in its 2015 report stated that more than 27,000 jail vacancies exist as against the sanctioned strength of a little over 80,000. This reflects that there has been a severe staff crunch in the prisons of the country. The report also says that more than 200 inmates escaped in the incidents of jail-break and from custody in 2015. Punjab has a record of more than 41 per cent vacancies in its jails; in 2015, 32 inmates escaped. Apart from this, the report highlighted that vacancies are ranging from the level of ordinary constables to the rank of officers. It is sad that Delhi, which boasts of the country's most high-security Tihar jail, is the third worst when it comes to staff crunch.
The Tihar jail has more than 47 per cent staff vacancies. Ironically, Delhi is currently housing the most overcrowded jails of the country where 200 inmates are being kept, as against a sanctioned strength of 100. Both the Union and the State Governments have to be more tuned in to the basic concerns with regard to adequate jail staff and the number of inmates. Else, jail-breaks will happen. We need an effective and efficient superintendence and maintenance of jails. It is found that since the coming of the ‘Model Prison Manual' in 2003, which was circulated to all the States and Union Territories, very few of the jails have so far adopted it in true spirit. It must be brought to the notice of the public that this manual was made after wide consultations with the State Governments. It is time to tighten our jail security and review the current staff requirements.
