By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the Delhi government and Tihar jail authorities to file a report in two days explaining how did six inmates die in past one week, even as a warden's death due to dehydration took the toll to seven.
While adjourning the hearing on a public suit till June 18, a division bench of Justices J.P. Singh and S. Muralidhar asked the authorities to provide in an affidavit a detailed report on reasons behind the deaths.
The bench observed that it seemed that basic minimum amenities were not provided to them in the jail, which has more than 10,000 inmates.
Shalek Chand Jain, a social worker, in the public suit alleged that deaths in Asia's largest jail had become a routine matter.
"In the past one week, at least six people died due to excessive heat," said the petition filed by counsel Sugriv Dubey.
"Police atrocities are an open secret to the public and innocent people are nabbed under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) on false charges of causing breach of peace and sent to jail even though the offence is bailable. They are kept in judicial custody as police do not want to relent," alleged the petition.
While seeking direction to the authorities to improve the conditions in jails, the petitioner also asked for the institution of a judicial inquiry into the deaths.
Meanwhile, Man Singh, a Tihar jail warden, died of dehydration in the prison hospital Wednesday.
The jail authorities claim that the deaths were due to the current heat wave that saw temperatures in the capital rise above 44 degree Celsius.