The Kapurthala police, on Sunday, registered an FIR against 31 jail inmates for indulging in vandalism and rioting at the Central Jail, Kapurthala, on Saturday night.
They have been booked on charges of murder bid, arson, rioting, obstructing public servants from performing duty, live transmission of objectionable content, criminal conspiracy etc.
Inmates allegedly damaged jail property, set things on fire and made live videos of a chain of events that continued till Sunday morning. The police had to use teargas shells to force rioters back into barracks. Two mobile phones and a number of iron rods and sticks were seized from prisoners’ possession.
As things got back to normal on Sunday, questions are being raised over security lapses that led to the incident. Around 150 prisoners got out from a prison block. They damaged grills, iron meshes, a gate to the roof, besides stealing a cylinder from the kitchen that they used to set jail property on fire. Brandishing iron rods, sticks and wooden torches, they shot live videos, despite jammers—even as cops’ networks remained jammed. Inmates also manhandled police officials who tried to pacify them. They also took control of the hospital on the jail premises. Rioting started around 8.30 pm and continued till 2.30 am.
Kapurthala SSP Gaurav Toora said, “Prisoners are in close contact with each other in barracks. Various incidents due to gang rivalry keep happening in the jail. Certain groups harbour mutual grudge which sometimes leads to violent incidents.”
“Jail kitchen services have resumed. No prisoner could escape. Some of our men were manhandled, but no police personnel is injured. Of the three injured inmates, one had tear gas shell injury, others were hurt during infighting. They’re all safe,” he added.
Responding to inmates’ charge of being tortured, the SSP said, “We deny that. All action was taken within law.”
On live videos by prisoners, he said, “We were inside jail and our mobile phones were not working. It’s a matter of investigation how that happened.”
Speaking about the incident, Kapurthala Jail Superintendent Shyamal Jyoti said, “We’ve been updating jail infrastructure and increasing strictness against violators, which may have led to discomfort among some prisoners.”
