Amritsar Central Jail inmate dies ‘mysteriously’, kin allege torture, hold protest

Amritsar, September 1

An inmate, Rahul of Chhota Haripura area, died under mysterious circumstances at the Amritsar Central Jail here on Saturday night.

The incident came to light when the family members of the victim staged a demonstration outside the jail, accusing a deputy superintendent of the jail of physically torturing the inmate leading to his death. The dharna was lifted only after police officials assured them of a judicial probe into the incident.

The victim’s family members alleged that Rahul was picked by the police on frivolous charges and sent to judicial custody over a month ago. They alleged they got a phone call from Rahul who told them that a deputy superintendent had tortured him. A few days later, he also demanded ~7 lakh as he was being harassed and tortured. They said when his mother went to meet him in the jail, he was not allowed to do so.

They said last evening he was allegedly tortured to death. He said nobody from jail informed the family about his deteriorating condition. Today morning, a cop came and said that your son had suffered injuries and he was admitted in the civil hospital.

He said till afternoon they kept making rounds of the Civil Hospital and Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, but no one informed them about Rahul. Perturbed over this, they decided to hold a protest outside the jail and block the road.

The protesters also stopped a bus coming out of the jail and indulged in sloganeering against the jail administration. The dharna continued for around two hours before police officials reached the spot and assured them of a judicial inquiry.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Vishaljit Singh said the postmortem would be conducted by a medical board to ascertain the reason behind his death. Besides, a judicial probe has been marked into it.