By Salman Sultan, TwoCircles.net Special Correspondent,
Azamgarh: City-based Association for Welfare, Medical, Educational and Legal Assistance (AWMELA) has strongly condemned atrocities being committed on Muslim jail inmates languishing in terror cases in various jails in the country. The recent attack was on the day of Eid on an Azamgarh youth lodged in Jaipur Central Jail on terror charges.
In a press conference in Azamgarh yesterday AWMELA president Dr. Javed Akhtar condemned the continued atrocities being committed on Jail inmates in Bombay, Ahmedabad and now Central Jail Jaipur. First it was ATS that terrorized the inhabitants of Azamgarh and now the accused in seemingly fake Batla House Encounter lodged in different jails along with other fellow Muslim inmates are being terrorized.
“This will not be tolerated and all possible non-violent means of protest will be adopted to let the Jail authorities, who in fact are custodian, protector, reformer and counselor of incarcerated persons, see reason and refrain from committing such heinous crimes,” said Dr. Javed. He quoted the order of Bombay High Court judges Bilal Nazki and AR Joshi, delivered on July 21, 2009, “… We have found [that] force was used against the under trial prisoners for no fault of theirs. Force was used excessively for extraneous reasons and [the] law was also flouted. Even as a formality, the Jail Manual was not followed. We, therefore, direct the Chief Secretary, State of Maharashtra to initiate [a] disciplinary inquiry against all the Officers involved in the incident… If need be, in addition to the departmental inquiry, criminal action be also initiated against the concerned Officers.”
“Once a charge sheet has been filed, nobody has authority over the custody of an under-trial except the court… It has to be remembered that the convicts or the under-trials are human beings and they have to be treated like human beings. The jail authorities who have custody over them have [a] special responsibility to protect their rights and in fact they are their custodian, reformer and counsellor.”
Mr. Mohammad Asim, uncle of accused Mohammad Sarvar (lodged in Central Jail, Jaipur) was present in the press conference. He narrated his visit to Jaipur and all that has happened e.g brutal attack on prisoners, desecration of Holy Scriptures and other repugnant acts on the day of Eid and before.
Dr. Salman Sultan (Secretary), Dr. Kamaluddin (Treasurer), Dr. Wahid Ali, Mr. Mumtazuzaman advocate and Mr. Tareeq A. Khan (all members of AWMELA) were present along with other respected citizens in the press conference.