In order to break groupism among the inmates, Tihar Jail administration has started relodging more than 6,000 prisoners in an alphabetical order replacing the earlier practice of keeping the accused in similar cases together.
Earlier those accused in similar cases and booked under same FIR were kept together in cells as it was easy to present them in courts. “The inmates involved in same cases stayed together and were taken to the court together. But keeping in mind the brewing conspiracies in jail and to eliminate groupism among inmates, they’ll be lodged alphabetically henceforth. This would break even the most notorious of the groups here,” Delhi Prisons DIG Mukesh Prasad said.
However, the high security prisoners will not be affected by this new policy. The relodging exercise would be completed within two weeks. Earlier in Tihar, those who were to be produced in Tis Hazari court were lodged in jail no. 1 and those who were to be taken to Patiala House court were kept in jail no. 4. Similarly those requiring appearance in Rohini District Court were kept in Rohini Jail while those having cases in Dwarka and Karkarduma Court were lodged in jail nos 8-9.
But under the new rule, all these inmates have been categorised alphabetically irrespective of their courts and have been separated from those already convicted. Jail nos 2 and 5 will house only the convicts. Jail no. 2 will have those serving imprisonment of more than 10 years, including lifers mainly, while jail no. 5 will have those convicted for sentence of less than 10 years.
The undertrials have been relodged in the rest of the jails alphabetically. Undertrials with their names starting from S, Y will stay in jail no. 1. Those having names starting with V, B, C, D, E, F, G will be lodged in jail no. 3. While those with A, R will be kept in jail no. 4. Jail nos 6 and 7 house women and adolescents, respectively and no changes have been made for them as they are to be kept away from adults as per the Prison Act.
Jail nos 8-9 will have undertrials with their names starting with J, Z, l, M, N and for a change Rohini Jail will also house inmates under the new rule with those having their names starting with the letters H, I, K, O, Q, P, U, W. “This new initiative will help keep a strict vigil on the troublemongers here. Those who have been identified as the troublemakers in jail will further be shifted time to time,” Sunil Gupta, law Officer for Delhi Prisons said.
A helpline has also been started, using which a family or relative can locate their dear ones in jail, Gupta said. “We have launched helpline numbers — 28520202 and toll-free 1800-110810 to assist families of these inmates to locate their dear ones here,” Gupta said. He said last month a major attack planned by one group of prisoners during a VIP function was foiled by the jail staff.
“Taking a lesson from such incidents and to prevent any such act in future, these steps have been taken. We are sure it would bring drastic changes and security would be tighter,” Gupta said. The shifting of the inmates has started and the jail administration aims to complete it in a two weeks time. “We have already started the shifting of the inmates, and will be done with the exercise by next week,” Prasad said. All the new inmates and those who’ll be brought to jail in future will be lodged following the new rule.