The Hindu : Kerala News : Weapons in prison: CPI(M) seeks probe

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 27, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Weapons in prison: CPI(M) seeks probe

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 26. The CPI(M) State secretariat has demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the discovery of weapons in the cells at the Thiruvananthapuram Central Prison housing BJP inmates and provision of special facilities to COFEPOSA prisoners.

In a statement here today, the CPI(M) secretariat said that the `shocking' revelations about the goings-on at the Central prison showed that the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, had lost the moral right to handle the Jails portfolio.

Jails had turned into killing fields as had been revealed with the murder of the CPI(M) worker, Ravindran, at the Kannur Central Prison recently. The incident had occurred because the BJP workers were permitted to stockpile weapons inside the cells. Following the murder, the Chief Minister had declared that the Government would not allow such incidents to recur. But the discovery of arms in the cells at the Thiruvananthapuram Central Prison suggested otherwise. This could not have happened without the connivance of the prison authorities and they could have done so only on account of the Chief Minister's soft attitude towards the BJP, the CPI(M) leadership said.

Citing reports that TV sets and European closets had been installed in cells housing COFEPOSA prisoners and that certain prisoners had been provided with mobile phones, the CPI(M) State secretariat said all these were serious issues that deserved a close look. Had the Government taken serious note of complaints it had received in the past in this regard such a situation would not have come about. The unlimited freedom being given to BJP activists at the prison was condemnable, the CPI(M) secretariat said.

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