Jail security: Govt gives suggestions

The state government on Friday placed certain recommendations with regard to security at the Sabarmati Central Jail before the Gujarat high court. The high court had earlier taken suo moto cognizance of the death by stabbing of an under-trial, Suresh Kakadia, by Mahendra Vala, a convict, on March 1.

The court adjourned the matter by six weeks after the counsel for the state government submitted that the recommendations will be met by that time. Earlier, the amicus curiae appointed in the matter, Shalin Mehta, told the court that the frequency jammers at the jail were not working, in response to which additional advocate general Tushar Mehta submitted that the jail authorities were planning to install five more jammers at the jail.

He also submitted that jammers cannot be installed at a height as people living nearby will be affected. The amicus curiae said in his report that there were inadequate canteen and hospital facilities for inmates and that some patients suffering from Aids were unable to avail of appropriate treatment.

DNA had reported that, on May 3, Mehta visited the jail premises for the second time. On May 6, he submitted an interim report on the conditions in the Sabarmati jail to the court. In this report, he was said to have pointed out that the jail authorities were violating the jail manual as well as a 2005 order of the high court by keeping convicts and under-trials under one roof.