The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Monday, February 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Sick jail inmates at God’s mercy
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, February 2
Freedom from captivity may be the first choice of the few thousand inmates of Central Jail here. Freedom from sickness is definitely the second. Inmates, specially the underprivileged, dread falling sick in the jail. For the privileged few, however, the jail hospital barrack is a second home where they can reside on “Dunlop” beds in relative privacy away from the “common’’ criminals.

The dichotomy in the manner in which medical services are doled out to the inmates was revealed during a special “mulaqat’’ with them. This correspondent, while talking to a number of inmates after taking permission to meet a prisoner, was told of the completely different world existing on the jail premises.

Inmates, who had come to the barred meeting room to meet their relatives, said there was virtually no medicine present in the jail dispensary. And if any medicine was available, it was given to the privileged among them. For the less fortunate, there was little solace. They said those who could afford had to rely on getting medicines from outside.

The inmates disclosed that for the less privileged, it was very difficult to be referred to the local Government Rajindra Hospital in case of even severe afflictions. They said “VIP prisoners” treated the hospital barracks as a second home. They said the hospital barracks had the advantage of having “Dunlop’’ beds and clean sheets, facility for inmates to make their own food, besides privacy and other men of the same class as company. They said these “VIPs” were allowed to remain in the hospital barracks almost for the entire period of their stay while a stay in the hospital barracks was a dream come true for the average convict.

Most police officers, including those on trial for excesses, besides high profile undertrials like former PPSC Chairman Ravinderpal Singh Sidhu, ADGP D.S. Bhullar and others convicted with him on murder charges, Income Tax Commissioner M.L. Dossa and his nephew Deepak Chugh have been recent permanent residents of the hospital barracks. Others stay in the jail for a short period until they are bailed out like the recent example of Councillor Narinderpal Lalli.

There is a lot of controversy over calling of a special police guard to accompany inmates to Government Rajindra Hospital in case of emergencies. The special guard is rarely called more than twice of week. The delay in transporting the emergency case to hospital is also sometimes fatal. This happened in the case of undertrial gun dealer Kartar Singh Sodhi who was charged with supplying arms to Naxalites in Bihar and West Bengal. Sodhi, an aged man, had been sick for many days. Even when he complained of chest pain early in the morning around two months ago, the time taken to take him to the hospital proved fatal for him.

Meanwhile, Jail Superintendent Jagjit Singh when questioned on the death of Sodhi said he had remained under supervision in the jail dispensary and that if his condition was serious he should have been referred to the Rajindra hospital. He said the authorities faced difficulty in cases of chest pain or heart attack as it took nearly one hour to take the patient to the hospital. He said due to problems in getting a police guard to tackle emergency cases, the jail authorities had to function on the seriousness of sickness of the inmates before deciding their priority. He said there was also the issue of inmates feigning sickness to get out of the jail which had to be tackled in a judicious manner.

Dr Harbans Singh Sarao at the jail dispensary said most “VIP prisoners” landed up in the barracks reserved for housing those whose health needed to be monitored because either a medical board had recommended their case or there was a court order in this regard. He said the dispensary itself did not have any facility except some emergency medicines. He said a large number of deaths were attributed to Patiala Central Jail because seriously ill inmates of Sangrur, Nabha and Bathinda jails were referred to it for treatment in the Rajindra hospital, adding that the death rate in the jail was in fact lower than other jails in the State.