By TwoCircles.net Correspondent
Ahmedabad: A fact finding committee of human rights activists from different states, which conducted a public hearing on the issue of beating of 22 Muslim inmates in the Sabarmati Central Jail here on March 26 and 27, has demanded a judicial probe by a sitting or retired judge of the high court and punishment to the guilty.
The committee headed by former journalist and a member of the National Integration Council (NIC) John Dayal, also demanded intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), adequate medical assistance to the severely injured inmates and permission to the Peoples Union for civil Liberties (PUCL) volunteers to meet the inmates inside the jail and collect first hand information about barbaric treatment meted out to them by the jail authorities.
Addressing media persons on Thursday, Dayal and other members of the committee including Delhi-based editor of Urdu fortnightly Afkar-e-Milli SQR Ilyas, PUCL (Gujarat) president J S Bandukwala and its secretary Gautam Thakar expressed deep concern over the human rights abuse of the prisoners.
“The incident reinforces the image of Gujarat as a state where the human rights of religious minorities and weaker sections are not honoured,” observed the committee members.
They said that if their demand regarding a judicial probe was not accepted, they might consider moving the court to seek justice in the case. Already, two petitions about the beating incident are pending in different courts.
While a petition in a magistrate’s court in Ahmedabad prays proper treatment to the injured persons and registration of a case against those involved in beating of the Muslim prisoners, a public interest petition filed by NGO Jan Sangharsh manch is pending in the Gujarat high court also seeking adequate medical treatment and transfer of Jail Superintendent V Chandrashekhar alleged to be the main culprit behind custodial torture of the prisoners.
The committee members said that the relatives of the inmates showed them blood soaked clothes of the inmates.
According to Dayal, the committee members made several efforts to approach the jail authorities and seek permission to meet the inmates but all their effort were in vain.
While Chandrashekhar refused them permission to meet the inmates, Inspector General of Police(Prisons) Keshav Kumar did not find time to meet them.
Dayal said that officials at the Sabarmati Police Station, where a case against the inmates on allegations of them attacking the jail staff was registered, were very arrogant and hostile to the Muslims. The Sabarmati police, however, did not register a cross complaint against the jail authorities when approached by the relatives and advocates fighting for inmates rights.
“The attitude of police officials showed that they had learnt nothing from 2002 communal riots in the state,” Dayal commented.
Ilyas said that Sabarmati police officials were so arrogant that they were not ready to talk to the committee members and justified the beating of the inmates saying “they are criminals accused in the bomb blasts, indulged in violence in the jail and hence deserved the beatings.”
Regarding provocation behind the mass hunger strike, Bandukwala said that the testimony of the relatives of the victims showed that it was triggered with the coming of Chandrashekhar as jail superintendent who stopped taking prisoners for medical treatment to the Government civil Hospital, curtailed food and other civil rights.
“It was in response to this that the prisoners went on mass hunger,” said Bandukwala. “but instead of solving their problems, the jail staff resorted to violence and committed excesses on them,” he stated.
Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, President of the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM), requested the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court to intervene immediately to save the lives of the inmates of Sabarmati Central Jail, punish the erring jail and police officials and place a monitor inside the jail to ensure that inmates are not beaten and tortured to satisfy the beastly urges of Modi and his henchmen.