Other States - Bihar   

Maoist prisoners to be periodically shifted

Patna: Bihar Government has decided to periodically shift hard-core Maoist prisoners from one jail to another to prevent jailbreaks or creation of “liberated” zones inside jail premises.

Recent incidents of Maoist prisoners engineering a jailbreak in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh and creating a “liberated zone” in high-security Beur Jail in Patna seems to have led to the decision.

“Shifting of Maoist prisoners will be periodically done to prevent the leaders from being close to others and getting organised,” IG (Prisons) Sandip Poundrik said on Friday.

Close circuit television sets (CCTV) and video-conferencing facility will also be installed in the jails for better monitoring. The Government has sanctioned Rs 20 crore for the purpose, Mr. Poundrik said.

According to the figures provided by State Home (prisons) department, more than 700 rebels of banned CPI (Maoist) are primarily kept in the six central jails -- Beur jail in Patna, Muzaffarpur, Buxar, Gaya, Jehanabad and Bhagalpur.

Most of the jails in Bihar are packed with prisoners. More than 350 Naxalites are lodged in Beur jail alone. State Government has planned to release prisoners arrested for minor offences.

Mr. Poundrik said they will soon improve the living conditions, sanitation, drinking water facility and provide regular health check-up in jails.

Among them, 350 Naxalites are lodged in Beur jail alone, Mr. Poundrik said. Ajay Kanu, who allegedly masterminded the jail-break at Jehanabad district in November 2005 in which over 350 prisoners had escaped, is lodged here.

Another top Maoist leader, Tushar Kant Bhattacharya, accused in a number of mass murders in Karimnagar, Prakasam and Adilabad districts of Andhra Pradesh, is also lodged in a jail in Bihar.

Bihar has seen 87 Naxalite-related incidents between July and December this year.

Bihar, one of the worst Naxalite affected states, has the lowest police-people ratio and more than 19,000 posts in police department are lying vacant.

In 2007, 23 policemen and 12 Maoist rebels were killed in gunfights. PTI

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Maoist prisoners to be periodically shifted

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