Security audit in Red-hit districts
Feb 9, 2013,
PATNA: The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has issued a letter to all the Naxalite-affected states to conduct a security audit, especially in the jails where Maoist prisoners are lodged. In pursuance to this letter, the state home (prisons) department has ordered all the SPs of the Maoist-hit districts, including Patna, to audit the available security arrangements and to enhance the security wherever necessary.
According to intelligence inputs, Naxalites strike the most in February and March; so the security forces are on high alert to prevent Red violence. With the onset of summer, the extremists desert camps in hill areas and head for home as soaring temperature makes life miserable in the forests. "It is also difficult to execute attacks during monsoon. After rains, they hold training camps, prepare blueprints of major attacks and execute them between February and April.
R K Singh, home secretary, Government of India, in his letter to the state home department, recommended that the district SPs could request the district judge in the interest of security to conduct the trial of undertrial Maoist prisoners through videoconferencing. Their lawyers should represent them during the trial proceedings and in case of lack of technological facilities, the Maoist prisoners should be transported in separate vehicles with adequate security.
The incidents of Maoist prisoners using mobile phones from the prison premises have increased in recent time. To prohibit such malpractices, surprise inspections in prisons should be conducted regularly, the letter said. The prison staff should be held responsible if mobile phones are recovered from the possession of jail inmates.
Anand Kishore, IG, prisons and correctional services, said, "During surprise inspections, the cops seize mobile phones from the prison premises. They even recover many 3G phones from the jail premises. About 550 mobile phones seized from the Beur central model jail were auctioned in December last year. But the problem is the seized mobile phones are always unclaimed and it is difficult to hold any staff accountable for this."
Talking about mobile phone jammers, Kishore said, "Technology is the major challenge for us. It takes between Rs 20 crore and 25 crore to install jammers. On an average, we have to install around 20 mobile phone jammers at each of the prison, but with the advancement in cellphone technology all the money goes in vain. So we are trying to make the jail administration strict to avoid such problems."
Incidentally, a group of Maoists, including some women, had attacked the jail van on November 9 last year and freed the Maoist prisoners who were being taken from Giridih court (in Jharkhand) to jail. Three policemen and an undertrial prisoner were killed in the attack.
Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Security-audit-in-Red-hit-districts-ordered/articleshow/18410823.cms
PATNA: The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has issued a letter to all the Naxalite-affected states to conduct a security audit, especially in the jails where Maoist prisoners are lodged. In pursuance to this letter, the state home (prisons) department has ordered all the SPs of the Maoist-hit districts, including Patna, to audit the available security arrangements and to enhance the security wherever necessary.
According to intelligence inputs, Naxalites strike the most in February and March; so the security forces are on high alert to prevent Red violence. With the onset of summer, the extremists desert camps in hill areas and head for home as soaring temperature makes life miserable in the forests. "It is also difficult to execute attacks during monsoon. After rains, they hold training camps, prepare blueprints of major attacks and execute them between February and April.
R K Singh, home secretary, Government of India, in his letter to the state home department, recommended that the district SPs could request the district judge in the interest of security to conduct the trial of undertrial Maoist prisoners through videoconferencing. Their lawyers should represent them during the trial proceedings and in case of lack of technological facilities, the Maoist prisoners should be transported in separate vehicles with adequate security.
The incidents of Maoist prisoners using mobile phones from the prison premises have increased in recent time. To prohibit such malpractices, surprise inspections in prisons should be conducted regularly, the letter said. The prison staff should be held responsible if mobile phones are recovered from the possession of jail inmates.
Anand Kishore, IG, prisons and correctional services, said, "During surprise inspections, the cops seize mobile phones from the prison premises. They even recover many 3G phones from the jail premises. About 550 mobile phones seized from the Beur central model jail were auctioned in December last year. But the problem is the seized mobile phones are always unclaimed and it is difficult to hold any staff accountable for this."
Talking about mobile phone jammers, Kishore said, "Technology is the major challenge for us. It takes between Rs 20 crore and 25 crore to install jammers. On an average, we have to install around 20 mobile phone jammers at each of the prison, but with the advancement in cellphone technology all the money goes in vain. So we are trying to make the jail administration strict to avoid such problems."
Incidentally, a group of Maoists, including some women, had attacked the jail van on November 9 last year and freed the Maoist prisoners who were being taken from Giridih court (in Jharkhand) to jail. Three policemen and an undertrial prisoner were killed in the attack.
Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Security-audit-in-Red-hit-districts-ordered/articleshow/18410823.cms
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