Tihar Jail officials on Friday in a fast-track court said visits and phone privileges of one of the December 16 gang-rape accused be withdrawn for two weeks as punishment for allegedly misbehaving with prison officials and other inmates.
A letter to this effect was filed by the jail officials before Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna who had asked the prison authorities on Thursday to inquire into allegation of accused Akshay Singh that he is being beaten up by the inmates and some senior officers. The jail officials’ opinion that Akshay needs to be punished by taking away his privileges for two weeks came in the wake of another alleged incident of misbehavior by him.
According to the prison officials, while he was being taken for his medical examination Akshay allegedly abused and misbehaved with the wardens escorting him. “The act of Akshay is strictly against jail discipline and punishable as per Delhi Jail Manual. He may be punished accordingly. His visitation (mulakat) and phone facilities are to be withdrawn for two weeks subject to approval of the District and Sessions Judge,” the letter said.
Regarding Akshay’s allegation that he was manhandled by two assistant superintendents, Mandeep Dahiya and Jitender Patel, the report said “no such incident has ever taken place... The contention that he has been beaten and suffered injury on his chest is a highly fabricated one.” The report of Akshay’s medical examination conducted at Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital was also placed before the judge by the prison authorities to support their contention.
On Thursday, the court had directed the jail authorities to get Akshay medically examined and to also inquire into the whole matter and file a report on Friday. In their report, Tihar Jail officials have claimed that since his arrival there, Akshay has been ‘violating the rules and regulations and creating huge disturbance and havoc inside the ward.’ They also urged the court to treat Akshay’s application alleging manhandling by prison officials, as a malicious attempt to browbeat the jail authorities’ and malign their integrity.