Deaths in jail raise doubts over facilities for inmates

A lawyer has filed an appeal in the court to order Hyderabad police to register an FIR against the nominated officials of Hyderabad Central Jail for the suspicious deaths of five inmates in less than four months.

The district and session court on Saturday put two concerned policemen of the district police on notice for July 18 in this regard.

The complainant Advocate Sarmad Sattar Laghari alleged that misconduct and negligence of the jail officials have taken the lives of hundreds of prisoners. However, he cited five recent deaths of sick prisoners to accuse jail superintendent Shakeel Arbab, warden Rawan Khan and two officers of Liaquat University Hospital including Faheem Ahmed Memon and Syed Ashfaque. An unnamed Reserve Inspector has also been blamed.

According to Laghari, an under trial prisoner Ghulam Shabbir fell ill and subsequently died on February 28. Death of another UTP, Mir Hassan, followed on April 15. Likewise, Mahar Hussain passed away on May 21, Ahmed Arisar on June 5 and Ghulam Mustafa Magsi on June 25. The hospital cited cardiac arrest as the cause of death of all these inmates.

¨All people ultimately die because the heart beats stop. But what was the health condition of that deceased patient? Were they provided timely and quality medical treatment. These questions remain unanswered," the lawyer said while talking to The Express Tribune.

Laghari claimed that the family of Mahar Hussain had several times approached the prison officials to request them to transfer the deceased inmate to hospital because he was unwell and required immediate medical treatment. However, he alleged, the officials refused to let Hussain be shifted to the LUH because his family had refused to pay bribes.

He argued that many patients die in the jail because of such attitude and bribe seeking acts of the officials. He added that the health conditions of these patients inside the prison aggravate. ¨They are taken to hospital when it becomes certain that the chances of their survival are bare minimal.¨

The lawyer lamented that identical complaints have also been made in the past before the relevant forums. ¨But it is painful to state that no positive response has so far been made.¨ He prayed the court to order Baldia police station, the jurisdiction/s police, to record his statement for registration of an FIR in the public interest.