Police patroling in violencehit Kandhamal district in Orissa.
Horoscope Today
Opinion Poll
Bhubaneswar ( Orissa) : IG (Prisons), V Thiagarajan has been passing through sleepless nights since past one month. Reason, prisons in violence hit Kandhamal are now jam-packed.
With communal violence still continuing, prisons in riot hit Kandhamal district are over crowded and are facing difficulties in accommodating the increasing number of inmates as the administration continues its crackdown to apprehend those involved in violence and arson.
Over 625 people were rounded up by the police so far their alleged involvement in the riots that brokeout after the killing of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati and four of his followers on August 23.
The arrest drive was launched about a week ago.''The prisons in Kandhamal district are over-crowded and we are planning to shift some of the inmates to a jail in ganjam district to reduce the burden,'' said IG Thyagarajan.
At least 40 prisoners from the sub-jail at G Udayagiri were shifted to the sub-jail at Digapahandi in Ganjam district on Friday.
Tyagrajan has visited all the three jails located in the strife-torn district and discussed with the inmates about their problems.While two sub jails are located at Baliguda and G Udayagiri, the district jail is situated at Phulbani, the district headquater town.
The district jail housed 233 prisoners as on Saturday against its total capacity of 132.
Similarly the sub-jail at Baliguda has 241 prisoners as against its capacity of 85. The worst affected is the sub-jail at G Udayagiri.
As against its total capacity to accommodate only 35 inmates, including five women, the jail now has 204 even after shifting 40 inmates to Digapahandi, official sources said.
''We are planning to shift more number of prisoners from G Udayagiri to Digapahandi and other prisons in Ganjam district,'' the IG (Prisons) said.
The newly constructed sub-jail at Digapahandi has the capacity to house 300 people. With the shifting of 40 prisoners from G Udayagiri, the total number of inmates in the sub-jail was now 72, its superintendent Pradeep Kumar Das said.
Jail officials in Phulbani and Baliguda said they were facing much difficulty but have no immediate plan to shift the excess prisoners to other places.
Shifting of prisoners from Kandhamal to other districts is difficult as some inmates are reluctant to do so as it would take them far from their villages.''This is really a problem for us,'' Thyagarajan conceeded adding he had already discussed with the district judge about shifting of some of the prisoners from the district to other places to reduce the burden.
Now other way round, the Kandhas are now on the run as police is after them.
Out of fear male Kandhas now have left for the jungles. Panas are filing FIR against tribals indiscriminately.
FIRs are written in the Government relief camps, where the voter lists are being used to find out the names.
Even a FIR consists of names of 500 plus people as accused! FIRs are running into 5-6 pages and a bunch of list of the able bodied male members of the entire village. And serious charges like arson, looting, attack on life, burning the houses and properties are invariably in the FIR.
This is going to create horrible situation in the future, apprehend insiders.
Till date 400 plus FIRs have been lodged in various police stations. Police have already arrested at least 500 people and sweeping orders have been issued to arrest the persons, whose names are figured in the FIR.
Now Pana Christians are taking upper hand as they allege the police are not arresting all those, whose name figure in the FIRs.
It is impossible for the police men to arrest all the 500 plus people mentioned in a FIR, admitted a senior police officer.
After the visit of the district, DGP, M M Praharaj issued orders to arrest all those, whose names are in the FIR. Taking advantage of the situation, now FIRs are being filed indiscriminately, alleged a tribal leader.
Pathetic part of the story is Kandhas are not able to file FIRs as they are not articulate and ignorant about the laws and rules, lamented the leader.
In absence of the male members, women folk of Kandha families are facing teasing and harassments, revealed a woman health worker.
This is creating a no-win situation for the administration, admitted a senior officer.
He admitted that now it is one sided affair, while the Panas are having upper hand and taking advantage of the genuine intention of the DGP.
So though Kandhamal has not reported any incidents during last 7 days, but with Kandhas fleeing to jungles and women folk facing embarrassing situation in villages, the so called peace will be short lived, apprehend experts.
