SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir administration today shifted 82 more prisoners from different jails including high-security Kot Bhalwal prison to other jails of the country including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi, reported Daily Excelsior.

44 prisoners have been lodged in UP’s Naini jail.

“The move is aimed at stopping radicalization of ordinary criminals, misuse of prisons for spreading militant activities through use of mobile telephones and Social Media and preventing hardcore militants from staying in touch with outside world,” newspaper Daily Excelsior quoted the official sources as having said.

In second week of March, the administration shifted 96 prisoners to jails outside the Jammu and Kashmir.

Recently, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had written to Jammu and Kashmir and other State/UT Governments seeking adequate measures to prevent misuse of prisons for anti-national activities.

Quoting sources newspaper Daily Excelsior reported that most of the Hurriyat leaders and militants including Pakistanis and Kashmiris, have been shifted from Kot Bhalwal jail and prisons from the Valley to Haryana, New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh jails.

“Mainly those prisoners are being shifted to outside jails who the administration feels could radicalize ordinary criminals in the prisons or those who could instigate subversive activities from inside the jails using mobile telephones and Social Media,” the report quoted sources as having said.

They added that the process will continue and lists of more prisoners are being prepared for shifting from Jammu and Kashmir jails to outside.

Security agencies have reportedly decided that hardcore militants and criminals will not be allowed to stay in one jail for a long time as they might develop their network even there with the help of criminals lodged in their barracks. They will, therefore, continue to be relocated.

“Besides breaking network of the militants being run from the prisons, if any, the move will also act as deterrence for future,” the sources said.

Many top Hurriyat leaders of Kashmir have already been lodged in Tihar jail at New Delhi for past quite some time.

An order issued by the MHA on May 4 called for conducting regular inspection of prisons, strengthening security arrangements and implementing effective administration to ensure that the jails are not misused to become breeding ground for anti-national activities.

The MHA ordered restrictions on unnecessary movement of prison staff in and out of the jail. For the purpose, a proper entry and exit registers of jail staff should be maintained, it said.

The order called for ensuring effective jamming solutions with the use of modern-day advances in technology to restrict use of mobile phones by inmates. It also suggested that first time offenders and repeat offenders should be segregated and housed in separate wards or prison complexes with a view to ensure that habitual offenders are not able to negatively influence the first time offenders.

The MHA order said the administration should ensure that the jail inmates are motivated to leave the life of crime and become responsible citizens of the nation. It has also asked the States/UTs to expedite various measures for strengthening the prison administration and ensuring the security.

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