In the wake of recent Nagpur jail break, government's home department has hired a private Information Technology (IT) company to audit nine central jails of Maharashtra for security lapses. The company has been asked to give innovative ideas to enhance jail security. The company is expected to file a report by next month.
In the wake of recent Nagpur jail break, government's home department has hired a private Information Technology (IT) company to audit nine central jails of Maharashtra for security lapses. The company has been asked to give innovative ideas to enhance jail security. The company is expected to file a report by next month.
"We have taken a lot of steps to update the security in jails in last few weeks. The audit by the IT Company is one of them. We are in process of re-examining the entire security system," said Vijay Satbir Singh, principal secretary, home department.
Besides this, the department has also asked the jail superintendent and the commissioner of police of each city that has jails to do a detailed security audit and also to conduct surprise raids.
The department has also woken up to the need of installing high intensity jammers in jails. Sources said that existing jammers in the jail are of poor quality and can easily become non-functional if a prisoner throws some water on it. Officers claim that they are also working on increasing the number of Close circuit cameras (CCTV), mobile detectors, metal detectors and more scanning machines in all 50 jails across the state. The state has a total of 50 prisons of which 9 are central jails. In all they house 25000 to 30,000 inmates.
However, senior officers claim that these are just interim steps and in coming days more concrete steps would be taken based on the audit reports. Sources say Auragabad jail has already undergone a surprise audit. However, so far not a single case of illegal possession of mobile phone or blade or any such thing has come into light in this jail.
On March 31, five inmates accused of serious criminal offences managed to escape from Nagpur Central Jail. Mohhamad Shaoib Salim Khan, Bishan Singh Phuke and Satendra Gupta , all three accused of murder, escaped from the jail along with Akash Thakur and Prem Nepali accused of dacoity and robbery.
So far the authorities have suspended nine officials in connection with the case including the superintendent. The investigation of the case has been handed over the Anti-corruption Bureau chief Pravin Dixit.
The Nagpur jail houses several dreaded criminals and terrorists including Himayat Beg, an accused of German Bekary bomb blast, Yakub Menon, who has been sentenced to life for being involved into 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts and underworld don Arun Gawali.
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