Life under Threat in Jail

Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) expresses grave concern at the increasing incidents of violent attacks and gang wars in jail which severely threaten the life and security of the ­inmates. The Tihar jail authorities have faltered in fulfilling their responsibility of ensuring a safe atmosphere by failing to keep in check violent conflicts among prisoners, the brunt of which is being borne by those inmates who are more vulnerable. On 13 September, two Kashmiri undertrials—Mohammed Shafi and Javaid Ahmed—were severely assaulted by members of two warring groups, in Jail No 3. The incident came to light much later in the first week of October when a few newspapers reported about it carrying the deputy inspector general’s (DIG) statement in which he himself acknow­ledged that the victims were not party to the gang war. Specific targeting of Kashmiri Muslims in Tihar by other prisoners who single them out as “terrorists” has been reported earlier. ­Mohammad Rafiq Shah, after spending 12 years in Tihar, publicly stated after his acquittal in 2017 that Kashmiri Muslims are physically tortured and humiliated for their identity both by inmates and jail staff. Earlier, in 2015, PUDR had raised the incident of the assault of a Kashmiri prisoner Wasim Akram Malik who was beaten inside Jail No 3 along with two other Muslims, on 28 March by the jail staff. Following the attack, his face was paralysed due to injuries and lack of proper medical care inside.

The ordeal of the Kashmiri Muslims is not confined to the male wards only. Zamrooda Habib’s complaint to Human Rights Commissions, once the only Kashmiri Muslim woman in Tihar, had highlighted the plight of these prisoners way back in 2007. The victimisation of these inmates has been unrelenting, a glaring example of which is Shabir Shah, a Hurriyat leader lodged in Tihar, who appe­aled to Delhi High Court on 6 October 2017, to shift him to high risk prison ­after having received death threats from co-prisoners and medical negligence from jail authorities.