Lucknow (The Hawk): The Uttar Pradesh administration has made the decision to further up monitoring of VVIP inmates housed in the state jails as new footage of incarcerated Delhi minister Satyendra Jain in Tihar jail are released on a regular basis.
A 24-hour video surveillance has reportedly been increased in all 72 of the state's jails and sub-jails, according to government sources.
These jails house infamous criminals, terror suspects, a former minister, and other VVIPs. They include Naini Central Jail, Lucknow Jail, Gautam Buddha Nagar Jail, and other jails.
Prison staff have been instructed to only permit things listed in the Jail Manual inside jails.
According to representatives from the headquarters of the prison administration and reform services, instructions have been sent to step up monitoring in all state institutions.
"Prison authorities have been directed to maintain a list of politicians, bureaucrats, mafias, infamous criminals, and terror suspects incarcerated in their jails and strengthen watch on their actions to ensure that no special facility is offered to them," the government spokesman added.
Jails in the U.P. have a history of infamous inmate behaviour.
Examples of criminals carrying on their activities while incarcerated include the murder of convicted gangster Munna Bajrangi by another gangster Sunil Rathi in July 2018 and the shooting death of three gang members in Chitrakoot jail in May 2021.
In April 2019, Atiq Ahmad's goons kidnapped a businessman and took him to the Deoria jail, where they tortured him.
In addition, videos of prisoners having fun, drinking alcohol, and placing extortion calls from within jails have already gone viral.
According to jailer Rajendra Singh, the district jail in Lucknow, which holds about 3,500 inmates, is home to a number of VVIPs, including former cabinet minister Gayatri Prajapati, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad's son Umar, gangster Sanjeev Maheshwari, police personnel accused in numerous cases, over 24 activists for the Popular Front of India, and five people accused of supporting terrorism in Pakistan.
Similar to this, there are roughly 4,300 inmates at Naini Central Jail, including suspected terrorists from Jammu and Kashmir and other regions of the nation, naxals, mafias, gangsters, deranged serial killers, etc.
Additionally, Naini Central Jail is where numerous political figures are being held in connection with various charges. Former Phulpur MP Kapil Muni Karwaria and his younger brother Surajbhan Karwaria, a former MLC, are on the list. Atul Rai, a Ghosi MP, and Angad Yadav, a former minister, are also detained in this facility.
According to the Jail Manual, security measures are being taken to protect inmates, according to R.K. Singh, jailor at Naini Central Jail. A verifiable list of these convicts is kept up to date. They are being housed in separate barracks by the administration.
Abbas Ansari (MLA), the son of Mukhtar Ansari, is detained in Chitrakoot Jail for security reasons.
Five district jails—Lucknow, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, and Bareilly—had already been outfitted with cutting-edge technology to maintain round-the-clock surveillance.
According to the government spokeswoman, these institutions contain equipment like deep search metal detectors and drone cameras.
In addition, he said, "these five prisons have been given hand-held metal detectors and night-vision binoculars."
He added that 48 extra high-megapixel CCTV cameras had been added to the Lucknow district jail.
"At the headquarters, users can see a live broadcast of every district prison. To monitor inmates, the FG-1 pole metal detection device has been placed in all jails "the spokesperson noted.
(Inputs from Agencies)
