VOICE OF EX-SERVICEMEN PUNJAB

A life of death in Punjab’s jails every day

Maja Daruwala & Mrinal Sharma
With little medical care, no inspections, information clampdown, the most prisoner complaints, it is no surprise that Punjab’s prisons record the second highest number of suicides.

There are as many reasons for a suicide as there are suicides. But clearly Faridkot jail provides just the conditions to push already anxious and vulnerable people over the edge. 

Earlier this month, 67-year-old Balkar Singh killed himself in Faridkot jail. The suicide is just the latest in a grizzly line of 60 that have taken place since 2013. This works out to almost two a month in just one jail. Nationally, Punjab has the highest prison suicide rate, second only to Karnataka. This points an unwavering finger at the conditions in that hellhole and the complete neglect and callousness of all those charged with the care of the prisoners who inhabit it.

Though Faridkot jail’s bricks and mortar were fashioned into “a modern facility” in 2013, its innards retain all the long-time ills that beset prisons all across India. It crowds in 1,753 prisoners with only two-thirds of the staff sanctioned to manage them. The board of visitors is defunct. Lay visitors, government and judicial officers make up the board. The lay segment may never have been appointed. If appointed, they would not have been trained or convened, nor visited prisons regularly. That only the administration would know. Requests under the RTI Act have gone unanswered, nor is any information to be found on the government’s website. In fact, unlike other states, Punjab does not even have a website for the Prisons Department. This is entirely against the clear requirements of the Right to Information Act, which requires each public authority to voluntarily disclose statements and minutes of meetings of its boards, councils and committees. In short, it is a fatal combination of no supervision and zero transparency.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there are no psychologists, welfare officers or social workers in Punjab’s jails. Not surprisingly, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) receive the highest number of prisoner complaints from Punjab. But the disposal is one of the lowest at just 7 per cent and 21 per cent. In a decade, overall jail inspections have fallen by 58 per cent. Alarmingly, inspection visits by medical staff have gone down by 84 per cent. In the absence of any monitoring, prisoners are regularly sent to hospital for drug withdrawal symptoms. 

As the recent controversy around “Udta Punjab” has highlighted, the state is waging an unsuccessful war against drugs. It is certainly losing it in jails. In July 2012, the warden of Faridkot jail was booked for allegedly buying over 900 psychotropic tablets for an inmate. Across Punjab, there is only one medical staff for every 342 prisoners. As many as 174 people charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) have died in Punjab’s jails, 88 in 2014 and 86 in 2015. Clearly, being behind bars doesn’t mean being away from drugs.

It is not that people don’t know about the problem. In its 130-page report of 2014 on prison suicides, the NHRC points out that little has been done to improve the treatment of prisoners. In the absence of any ‘overt act of commission’, prison officials absolve themselves of any responsibility. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in “Amandeep vs. State of Punjab” has made it clear that people who have the care and custody of others cannot escape liability and doing so would amount to negligence.

It isn’t also as if concrete solutions have not been carefully considered. They are all there on papers yellowing with age. Simple steps would include availability of full complement of staff in each prison, in particular correctional and medical staff; robust training; and immediate appointment of and regular visits by board of visitors. Given Punjab’s particular problem with drugs, special efforts to create counselling teams and liberal communication with support structures like family are vital. Leaving this to overburdened security personnel is futile. In fact, given the steps the government has not taken to make things even marginally better, its long-held aspiration of putting in place a new law based on reform and rehabilitation instead of retribution smacks of hypocrisy. 

For the administration, Balkar Singh’s suicide may be just another statistic but it reflects the desperate reality of life in a Punjab prison today. Surviving him are his two sons and grandsons. They are also incarcerated drug offenders. They are not people who draw instant empathy. What must have his final thoughts been: that he couldn’t face any more sorrow; that with a 33-year sentence it was better to end it all than realise every day that he is doomed to eternal wretchedness, and that his womenfolk are unprotected and vulnerable to every kind of exploitation. In those circumstances, taking your life might not seem an entirely irrational choice.

Maja Daruwala is Director and Mrinal Sharma a programme officer at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

BJP claims Oppn overplaying drug problem, Navjot differs

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 1

Punjab BJP affairs incharge Prabhat Jha said here today that the Opposition was overplaying the state’s drug problem for political gains, even as the party’s Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu lashed out at the ruling alliance for taking the issue lightly.

On the opening day of the party’s two-day state executive meeting, Jha said the drug menace was more alarming in other states.

Taking a contrary line, Dr Sidhu said the drug trade was being run openly in the state under the patronage of the ‘red beacon’ (powers that be), adding that the police had failed to curb it due to their political affiliations.

“Why does no one dare to stop and check the private buses carrying drug consignments across the state?” asked Dr Sidhu while speaking to The Tribune.

She slammed Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal for portraying Punjab as a vulnerable state as it shared its border with Pakistan. “There are many other states bordering Pakistan. Why is this problem not rampant there?” the CPS asked.

She said the names of Akali leaders had surfaced in various drug rackets, but none had been arrested so far.

When asked about Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majithia’s alleged link with the drug trade, Jha said none of the investigative agencies had found him guilty.

Meanwhile, presenting a resolution draft pertaining to the 2017 assembly elections, senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia demanded that the Centre impose a ban on the manufacture of pseudoephedrine salt which was being used to manufacture synthetic drugs in the region. The resolution was passed by the state executive.

No Sidhu at Punjab BJP panel meets ‘till tie-up with SAD on’

JALANDHAR/AMRITSAR: Even as many saw the induction of Rajya Sabha MP Navjot Singh Sidhu into the Punjab BJP core committee last week as his return to the poll-bound state’s political arena, his wife and chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu on Friday declared he won’t attend meetings of the panel till the party remains in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

“Shukar karo main aa gyi! Hun BJP de palle ki bacheya hai Punjab vich? (It’s enough that I have come! What’s left of the BJP in Punjab now?),” she remarked on the sidelines of a BJP state executive meet in Jalandhar. “He (Sidhu) will not be part of any meeting or programme at which Punjab is discussed in alliance with the Akali Dal,” said Dr Sidhu, who is the BJP MLA from AmritsarEast. On the issue of the state’s drug menace too, she dropped a bombshell, saying that illicit drugs in Punjab were being “ferried in red-beacon (official) vehicles”. This is in contrast to the BJP’s solidarity with the Akali argument, that the issue was a ploy to defame Punjab.

The Sidhu couple has been at loggerheads with chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, and his son and deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, over alleged government bias against Amritsar which they see as an effort to erode their political standing.

A former cricketer known for his aggression on the field, Sidhu remained Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar (2004-14) before bowing out in favour of (now-finance minister) Arun Jaitley’s candidature. After speculation that the couple would join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Sidhu was sent to the Upper House by the BJP in April. Yet, he had said he won’t campaign in the Punjab assembly elections due early next year if the SAD-BJP alliance continued.

Capt’s former aide reaches out to residents

Mansa, July 1

Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, who served as the media adviser to the then Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, has undertaken a public welfare drive in his home district, Mansa.

The senior Congress leader and his son, Vikramjitinder Singh Chahal, today distributed spectacles among about 200 elderly villagers with a weak eyesight at Ralla village.

The Chahal Welfare Trust has opened a laboratory where diagnostic tests would be conducted free of cost for local residents. Chahal said a coaching institute, where about 800 students were learning an English speaking course, had also been started.

He added that the Trust had opened gymnasiums in Mansa, Bhikhi and Joga, catering to more than 1,700 youths.

Chahal, who hails from Dalelsinghwala village in the district, denied that his campaign was politically motivated. — TNS

BJP toes Akali line on drugs, but Sidhu alleges red-beacon ferrying

BJP executive asks opium-growing states to ‘plug loopholes’, scores own goal

Ravinder Vasudeva

JALANDHAR: Diluting its stand that the “problem of drugs in Punjab has taken a serious turn”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday echoed senior ruling partner Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) line, saying the issue was exaggerated by the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) “to defame the state”.

But the party’s MLA and chief parliamentary secretary Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu sang a different tune: “The problem of drugs is so severe in Punjab that some leaders are using their official, red-beacon vehicles to supply drugs. These red beacons have been allotted by deputy CM Sukhbir Badal to every Tom, Dick and Harry.”

Talking to reporters on the sidelines the party’s two-day state executive meeting that began on Friday, she even countered Sukhbir’s statements blaming the Border Security Force (BSF). “If the BSF is responsible for porous borders, Sukhbir must explain who is acting as supplier to bring the drugs from border areas to other parts of the state. It’s the police and politicians only.” BLAMED BJP-RULED STATES, INDIRECTLY However, the BJP executive passed a resolution asking states where opium cultivation is legal to “plug loopholes”. Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has been saying that smuggling from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, both states ruled by the BJP, was among reasons of drug abuse in Punjab.

Sidhu said: “Some politicians in Punjab are making huge money from the drug business... We all get salaries as elected representatives. But some of us have become owners of Rs 100200 crore in a very short span. Nobody is probing from where this money has come from.”

She claimed she had asked CM (Parkash Singh) Badal to order quarterly income examination for politicians and police officers; “but he has not done anything”. WHAT SHE SAID: UDTA PUNJAB SHOWS REALITY Sidhu also termed the recent controversial Bollywood movie ‘Udta Punjab’ as reality of Punjab: “If everything is fine in Punjab, then why was the movie made on Punjab only?”

Asked if the SAD-BJP government in Punjab was responsible for the menace, she replied: “It’s always the government running a state that’s responsible for all situations.”On state BJP chief and Union minister Vijay Sampla having dismissed the drug issue, she remarked, “Everyone must go to private drug de-addiction centres to see how serious the problem is.”

This blunted the BJP’s stance in its political resolution that said, “There is no country in the world where the menace of drugs is not there. Every state in India is facing this problem.” It said there was neither any legal cultivation of opium nor any pharmaceutical industry manufacturing a salt being used in synthetic drugs in Punjab. NO BIG DEAL, SAYS PARTY “Drugs have been eating into vitals of Punjab since Independence and even before that. The political parties have blown up this issue just to defame the land of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and the soldiers of Punjab who have sacrificed their lives to defend [the] country,” stated the resolution.

The resolution was seconded by former state BJP chief Kamal Sharma who during his tenure had vociferously targeted the Akalis on the issue.

Later, at a press conference, BJP’s Punjab affairs in-charge Prabhat Jha said, “Those who are saying that all youth between age of 16 and 30 years are addicted to drugs actually mean that entire Punjab is addicted. Do they mean that Shaheed Bhagat Singh and other martyrs were also addicts?”

But Jha was on a sticky wicket when asked if the BJP was also one among those parties that tried to exploit the issue of drugs to earn political brownie points as its national chief Amit Shah had planned a yatra in Punjab on this issue in February last year which was later called off. “Just show me the record when our party chief had announced this programme,” he said.

4 sexual assaults in a day shame Ludhiana

3 of 4 victims minor, accused their acquaintances

LUDHIANA: Three more cases of rape and molestation by acquaintance were reported here on Thursday since the early arrest of a self-styled sorcerer named Rizwan Malik on the complaint of a teenager who had come to him seeking magical remedies. Three of the four victims are minor.

Another man is accused of leading the gang rape of his friend’s daughter (13) and intimidating the child. Based on an FIR (first information report) registered at the Haibowal police station, police have arrested accused Chet Ram of Samta Nagar and alleged accomplice Deepak Kumar.

On June 24, Chet Ram, a mason, had taken away the child from her father on the pretext that he’d get her work as domestic help. On June 27, he dropped her back.

Noticing that the child was in depression, the father encouraged her to open up and she said Chet Ram had taken her to an abandoned house south of the city instead, where Deepak Kumar and he had raped her. Haibowal station house officer (SHO) inspector Amarjit Singh said the accused would be produced in court on Saturday.A slum-dweller named Shankar is charged with raping his neighbour’s minor daughter (14) on Wednesday night after abducting her to his shanty when the family was asleep. The Salem Tabri police registered this case under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act. SHO concerned inspector Jatinder Singh said a hunt for the accused was on.

Focal Point police have charged Gobind Nagar grocery shop owner Rakesh Kumar with molesting a girl (10).

The case is based on the statement of the victim’s father. The child had gone over to drop her younger brother at his tuition class near the shop when Rakesh allegedly lured her inside with chocolate.The child confided in the family after coming home and police arrested the accused under Section 354 (molestation) of the IPC.

Jakhar alleges scam in atta-dal scheme

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 1

Chief spokesperson for the Punjab Congress Sunil Jakhar today challenged Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal that he would put his political career at stake if the latter could prove that the state government distributed even 1 kg of dal (pulses) among the needy in the past two years.

“I will offer to quit politics if the Badal government provides me any proof of distributing pulses under the atta-dal scheme to the needy persons,” Jakhar said.

Jakhar alleged that special funds of Rs 800 crore reserved for the atta-dal scheme in the past two financial years had been gulped by the government.

If the said funds were not spent on distributing pulses, then where the hefty amount had gone, Jakhar questioned.

Farmer unions to go on 3-day statewide protest

DEMANDS INCLUDE DEBT WAIVER, `5 LAKH EACH TO FAMILIES OF FARMERS WHO HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE

BATHINDA: The farmer unions in Punjab have decided to collectively step up agitation in support of their demands and will be staging three days protest on July 27, 28 and 29 at all district headquarters in Punjab.The decision came at a meeting of 12 farmer unions in Moga on Thursday. The meeting was attended by representatives of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), BKU (Ekta Dakaundha), BKU (Krantikari), Punjab Kisan Sabha, Kisan Sabha Punjab, Kisan Sangharsh Committee Punjab, Punjab Kisan Sangharsha Committee, Kisan Sangharsh Committee (Azad), Jamhuri Kisan Sabha and Kirti Kisan Union.

BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) leader Shingara Singh Mann said the strike would build pressure on the state government to accept the farmers’ demands, and the ongoing protest outside the district administrative complex in Bathinda would continue.

The protest entered its 39th day on Friday. Mann said the unions would decide the next course after the three-day protest. The farmers under the banner of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) had started the protest in Bathinda on May 24 and are at it daily since.

The protesting farmers are demanding waiver of debt of farmers and farm labourers, compensation to tune of `5 lakh to the family of farm suicide victims, fresh survey of farm suicide cases to ascertain actual number of farmers’ suicides due to debt, compensation at rate of `40,000 per acre for the loss of cotton crop due to whitefly attack and legislation of farmer friendly laws.

Preneet visit invigorates workers

Reiterates Capt Amarinder’s words that only one member from their family will fight elections02 Jul 2016 | 1:04 AM

BATHINDA: Preneet Kaur, former MP and MLA from Patiala, today held a meeting with Congress workers and advised them to put aside their differences and unite for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 1

Preneet Kaur, former MP and MLA from Patiala, today held a meeting with Congress workers and advised them to put aside their differences and unite for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Many speculations were put to rest today with Preneet declaring that she and her son Raninder Singh, who contested and lost the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Bathinda, would not fight the Assembly elections.

Reiterating the statement of Captain Amarinder Singh declaring that only one member from his family would fight elections, she said while replying to media queries, “As stated by Captain earlier, only one member from our family will fight elections. The Congress will win under the leadership of Amarinder Singh this time.”

She was here to galvanise the Congress party’s door-to-door drive known as ‘Jan Sampark’ campaign.

She maintained that being the in-charge for Bathinda zone, she met party leaders and party workers.

She said leaders were being assigned duties to make the people aware of the policies of the Congress party by visiting houses.

The work under the campaign would be completed by August 8, she added.

Turning gun towards the Aam Aadmi Party, she said AAP had no experience rather it was just doing experiments.

“AAP is wasting the public money collected in the form of taxes in Delhi. The party is spending money on its campaign and advertisements in Punjab to win the elections,” she said.

AAP would waste the hard-earned money of the people of Punjab for its campaign in other states, if it comes to power, Preneet added.