Times of India: Agra: Tuesday,
October 18, 2016.
On an
average, one prisoner dies in Uttar Pradesh every 26 hours. According to the
state prison department's response to an RTI query, more than 2,050 prisoners
have died in Uttar Pradesh since 2010.
Human rights
activist Naresh Paras, who filled the RTI application, has witten to the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), governor of UP and the PMO to take up
the matter.
According to
the response to the RTI query (a copy of which is with TOI), 2,062 prisoners
died in a period of 74 months from January 2010 to February 2016. Out of them,
more than 50% were undertrials. As many as 44 prisoners had committed suicide
between 2010 and 2015. Around 24 died in police custody or allegedly got
murdered.
"Age and
natural causes behind the death of prisoners is just another excuse to escape
the reality. The situation inside UP prisons is pathetic. There is a major lack
of medical treatment for inmates and poor infrastructure at prison clinics. The
state government and prison authorities have no concern for prisoners' rights.
The atmosphere inside the prisons provokes convicts to commit suicide.
Protection of priso ners is the prime responsibility of prison authorities, yet
murders and unnatural deaths in jails and police custody continue to take place
on a frequent basis," Paras told TOI on Sunday.
In 2010, 322
prisoners died. Out of these, half a dozen killed themselves, one died in
police custody and six were murdered. In 2011, 285 prisoners died, including an
undertrial from Pakistan.
There was an
increase in the number of deaths in 2012, with 360 recorded, including another
Pakistani undertrial. Three inmates killed themselves. In 2013, 358 prisoners
died, while 345 lost their lives in 2014. This was follo wed by 345 deaths in
2015 and 53 in the first two months of 2016.
Inspector
general of police (IG) GL Meena said, "Several initiatives have been taken
in the past to provide better facilities to prisoners. Deaths reported due to
old age and illness is quite normal and inevitable. The situation in prisons
has improved in the past few years, but the number of prisoners has also
increased. The state government is getting new prisons constructed. This will
reduce overcrowding and help in developing better infrastructure. Efforts will be
made to control the number of unnatural deaths of convicts."
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