To check radicalisation of youth, the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh will now keep an eye on young criminals lodged in state jails.
To check radicalisation of youth, the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh will now keep an eye on young criminals lodged in state jails.
According to a senior official in the home department, all jail officials have been asked to prepare a list of visitors for young criminals, including their immediate family members and their lawyers.
“There have been people other than family members who have been visiting some young criminals in jails and we want to track them in order to make sure that they are not radicalising the youth. According to our sources, young criminals are extremely susceptible to getting radicalised and they are being provided related literature in jails,” said a senior official in the home department.
With ISIS footprints having been found in Uttar Pradesh, following the arrest of two ISIS volunteers from the state last week, the government is determined to keep a check on terror activities.
Sources said that intelligence agencies have given an input that ISIS supporters could try and radicalise youth lodged in jails so that when they are released, they can work for the terror outfits.
UP chief secretary Alok Ranjan has issued directives to all central and district jail official to keep an eye on criminals indulging in suspicious activities.
“We have asked the officials to inspect the jails once a month to ensure that mobilephones are not being used by inmates. We are also installing jammers in 10 high-security prisons that are home to hardcore criminals,” the chief secretary said.
These jails include the central Naini jail in Allahabad and the jails in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Sultanpur.
According to the official, CCTV cameras are also being installed in 23 jails on a priority basis. “Through this we can identify the jail staff members who are sympathetic to the inmates and help them in communicating with the outside people. These staff members will face action,” he said.
The state government has also proposed the deployment of PAC personnel in jail security and these personnel will be shifted from one jail to another on a regular basis to prevent them from getting familiar with the inmates.
The state government has already providing facility for video conferencing with the courts in Lucknow, Varanasi, Allahabad, Mirzapur, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Bareilly, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur, Agra, Faizabad, Saharanpur and Pratapgarh so that inmates can attend hearings of their cases without venturing out of the jail.
