Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024 | Last Update : 01:09 PM IST
Tihar security under Delhi HC lens
The committee should get the active cooperation of the Tihar Jail administration and the Delhi government, it said.
New Delhi: Proper functioning of CCTV cameras in Tihar Jail, which is overcrowded with prisoners by over 100 per cent, is a “non-compromisable imperative”, the Delhi high court has said while setting up a high-level committee to suggest measures for enhancing security of three jails.
The court said it was aware that Tihar Jail was under the Delhi government’s home department, but to ensure that the exercise was entirely objective and impartial, the three-member panel should not have representatives of the Delhi government.
The committee should get the active cooperation of the Tihar Jail administration and the Delhi government, it said.
A bench of Justices S. Muralidhar and I.S. Mehta directed the secretary of the ministry of home affairs to constitute within 10 days the committee which would comprise a retired district judge of Delhi as the chairperson, a senior official of the National Informatics Centre and a senior official of the Delhi police, not below the rank of a deputy commissioner of police.
The court’s directions came on a petition alleging that 47 inmates in Tihar Jail were mercilessly beaten up by security personnel inside the prison and that their human rights were violated by the jail authorities. It directed the panel to submit a report within two months and listed the matter on November 30.
The bench perused the inquiry report of the superintendent of Tihar Jail which said only 19 out of 83 CCTV cameras in jail number 3 were functional for a period of 10 days and that at any given point in time, at least 10 per cent of these CCTV cameras are not functional. Standing counsel Rajiv Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government and Tihar Jail, informed the court these 83 CCTV cameras were only for jail no. 3 whereas there were over 500 CCTV cameras at various locations in the entire Tihar jail.
“Tihar jail is one of the largest jails in the country with an inmate population of over 14,500. It is sought to be projected as a ‘model jail’. Considering that the capacity of the jail is around 6,000, it is plainly overcrowded by over 100 per cent. It is undoubtedly a high security zone. It should be needless to emphasise that the proper functioning of CCTV cameras in Tihar jail complex, on a continuous basis, is an non-compromisable imperative,” the judges said.
