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    Set up separate jails for terrorists, Home Ministry to states

    Synopsis

    Home Ministry has asked all states to set up new security prisons outside cities for exclusively housing terrorists and said till that is not feasible, movement of high-risk prisoners should be restricted inside jails.

    ET Bureau
    NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry has asked all states to set up new security prisons outside cities for exclusively housing terrorists and said till that is not feasible, movement of high-risk prisoners should be restricted inside jails to stop them from indoctrinating other prisoners.

    Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Kumar Alok, has written a letter to the Principal Secretaries of all states on April 28, saying such measures need "serious consideration for being implemented on priority" based on the current security challenges faced by the jail administrations of various states. The segregation of terrorists in separate jails to be constructed outside city limits could be a first for the country. High-profile terrorists like 26/11 accused Mohammad Ajmal Kasab and Parliament Attack accused Mohammad Afzal were kept in the Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail and Delhi's Tihar Jail respectively, though in solitary confinement in high-security cells, before being hanged.

    "(There is) immediate need to decongest the jails by setting up security prison for terror accused outside the city. If that is not feasible, then very high-risk prisoners and other under-trial prisoners under the category of terrorist/security suspects are required to be segregated effectively from the ordinary prisoners within the complex of Central and District jails," the letter says. It further adds: "(There must me) restriction on movement of high-risk prisoners within the jails and their mixing with other prisoner even during transit to court, hospital etc to avoid the chance of indoctrination," the Home Ministry letter says, further asking for strict monitoring of activities of visitors inside the jails.

    The Home Ministry has further said that there should be arrangements made of court's hearing through video conferencing in case of high-risk prisoners – this seems prompted from the encounter in Telangana last month when five alleged terrorists were killed in cross-firing by cops who were escorting them in a police van from Warangal jail to a Hyderabad court. The Home Ministry has also pressed for installation of CCTV cameras, mobile jammers with state of the art prison surveillance system and enforcement of a regular security classification protocol for screening and risk assessment of prisoners so that level of security within a prison is categorized in terms of risk to prisoners.

    "The aforesaid measures would go a long way in improving the security inside the jails besides strengthening the criminal justice system as a whole. It is expected that states would do their best to implement them on priority. A point-wise intimation on action taken on all the above points in this regard will be highly appreciated," the Home Ministry letter says.


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