SHC bench order : Transfer 210 inmates back to central, Nara jails, officials told
A court has ordered Hyderabad jail officials to transfer 210 prisoners awaiting trial, who were moved after a massive operation at Central Jail Hyderabad, back to the central or Nara jails.
It also told the finance department to give the Central Jail in Hyderabad Rs26 million for repairs and reconstruction.
The Sindh High Court bench of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard on Thursday a report-turned-petition by SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam. Districts and Sessions Judge Fahim Ahmed Siddiqi, who visited the central jail along with Additional Sessions Judge-II, to inspect the condition of the prisoners and the jail, found inmates living in cramped cells of 8 by 10 feet.
He reported that the jail superintendent said the barracks had further deteriorated after last month’s operation and that the prisoners could no longer be kept there. Siddiqui’s report also pointed out other unhealthy conditions, the need for more beds and other necessary things for a hospital inside.
Expressing concern, the court observed that the prisoners’ cases had come to a standstill since the jail operation. At least 375 inmates were moved away to different prisons across the province after the operation.
Every Friday, a single circuit bench, Hyderabad would hear these pending cases while on Thursday, a double bench would hear these cases, said Justice Shah.
The court also expressed dismay over the accommodation at the prison. “Why are the inmates not allowed to stay in the barracks and are instead crammed into the small cells?” the court asked the central jail superintendent, Pir Shabbir Jan Sarhindi.
He said that barracks were in no condition to house the inmates. The court was not satisfied. It ordered the superintendent to repair the walls within a week and to shift the inmates, according to their age, back to the barracks.
The bench considered Sarhindi’s plea to hire more jail staff and asked the authorities concerned to respond to the request within a week. The superintendent had demanded an addition of 400 employees to the present staff of 282, which includes drivers and cooks. “There are only 50 policemen on duty inside the jail,” Sarhindi said, adding that the number of inmates had risen from 258 to over 1,900. “I have sent the same request in writing to IG Prisons,” he told the court.
The court also ordered inquiry into how banned items were allowed inside the prison.
Meanwhile, Nara Jail Superintendent Ghulam Murtaza Shaikh pleaded before the court that two barracks in his prison were not ready for inmates. However, the court asked the Hyderabad DCO, who was also summoned, to provide for the construction of at least one barrack in Nara Jail.
Justice Shah asked Advocate Genaral Allah Bachayo Soomro to ensure the presence of the secretaries of the works and services, home and finance departments as well as the IG Prisons, all cited as respondents in the case, at the next hearing scheduled for April 14
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2011.
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