CHENNAI: Madras high court has directed the DGP of prisons and Puzhal Central Prison superintendent to explain how prisoners accessed mobile phones and ganja despite stringent security arrangements in all prisons.
A vacation bench of justice S M Subramaniam and Justice V Lakshminarayanan issued directions to this effect on Friday, on a batch of pleas moved by the kin of two remand prisoners and one convict prisoner seeking adequate treatment for the convicts who were allegedly attacked by prison authorities for possessing cell phones inside the prison.
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“The allegations raised on behalf of the prisoners are that one cell phone allegedly kept by the prisoners inside the prison was identified by the prison authorities. A wordy quarrel occurred between the prison authorities and the prisoners, which resulted in the beating of the prisoners indiscriminately by the prison authorities,” the court said.
Opposing the pleas, the authorities submitted that it was only the prisoners who attacked the jail authorities, who defended themselves.
Recording the submissions, the bench suo motu impleaded the dean of Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Govt General Medical Hospital for conducting a medical examination of the prisoners and providing necessary treatment.
“The dean shall constitute a team of doctors for the medical examination of all three prisoners. The prison authorities are directed to produce all three prisoners before the dean for medical examination,” the court said.
The team of doctors shall thoroughly examine the prisoners and submit their report on Jan 21, the judges added. The DGP prisons and Puzhal prison SP have to explain how the prohibited items, including cell phones and ganja, are permitted inside the prison despite the security arrangements made in all the prisons across the state, the court said.
“The manner in which the security breaches are committed is also to be examined by the DGP,” the court said and adjourned the hearing to Jan 21.