Delhi Prisons Dept seeks amendment to transfer under-trials to jails in other states

According to officials, the Delhi Prisons Department will write to the AAP administration to request a legislation revision that would allow for the transfer of prisoners awaiting trial from the city’s jails to other states.

They claimed that doing this will enable them to break the connection between prisoners and also aid in reducing the crowd in jails. The current jail population in Delhi is 20,558 inmates, which is higher than the authorised ceiling of 10,026.

The prisons department’s action also comes only days after gangster Tillu Tajpuriya was fatally stabbed inside Tihar Prison by four inmates from a rival group, creating significant concerns about the prison’s security.

“We are going to write to the government to take up the matter of amending the Transfer of Prisoners Act with competent authority to include under-trial prisoners in it in order to shift them from city jails to other states which will help in breaking their nexus here,” a senior prisons department official said.

According to the official, a number of prisoners have many criminal cases filed against them outside of Delhi, but they purposely get themselves arrested in Delhi for minor offences in order to enter Tihar Jail.

“After this amendment, we will be able to send criminals to the states where cases have been pending against them and they can be present in a court here virtually. This step will help decongest the jails and also in assisting the working of prison administration,” the official said.

“The strength of the paramilitary force also needs to be increased. We are going to write to the Delhi government about increasing its strength in prisons. They also need to be transferred every five years so that they do not develop any vested interest here,” the official added.

Following an investigation into their role in preventing the attack after the Tajpuriya death on May 2, the prisons department suspended eight Tihar Jail employees, among them three assistant superintendents.

Later, quick response teams (QRTs) were established by the department to handle similar occurrences in the future.