SRINAGAR: The government have shifted 96 detenues, majority of them militants, to different jails in New Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh while the process is on to shift more, reported Daily Excelsior.
Quoting official sources newspaper Daily Excelsior reported that fifty six detenues including 53 militants involved in major militant activities and apprehended during encounters and searches in Kashmir and three criminals booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) have been shifted to jails outside Jammu and Kashmir from Kot Bhalwal jail.
Rest 40 have been moved out from other jails of Jammu and Kashmir including Central Jail Srinagar, newspaper quoted sources as having said.
“They were taken out of the jails and shifted to Haryana, New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh under tight security arrangements. The Jammu and Kashmir administration had already entered into an arrangement with the Governments of Haryana, New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for lodging hardcore militants there to break their nexus with outside world which they were managing while being kept in the jails of J&K,” the report quoted sources as having said.
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.
Quoting sources Daily Excelsior reported that the overcrowding in Kot Bhalwal jail was also one of the factors behind shifting of prisoners to outside jails but the prime reason remained the racket the militants were running despite being lodged in the prisons.
As against the capacity of 850 prisoners, the Kot Bhalwal jail presently accommodates 1100 detenues. Shifting of militants and some criminals outside will lessen burden on the jail, sources said, adding that only those local prisoners have been moved outside who were detained under the PSA while the militants were involved in heinous activities and it was also established that some of them had managed mobile telephones with SIM Cards inside to direct the operations.
Two prisoners each from Central Jail Srinagar and District Jail Poonch have also been shifted to Haryana.
“Lists of some more prisoners, mostly the militants and PSA detenues, are being prepared by the Home Department and the Intelligence agencies in Jammu and Kashmir for shifting them outside the Union Territory shortly,” sources disclosed.
According to sources, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has entered into an arrangement with Haryana, New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for accommodating the prisoners from the Union Territory.
“The detenues are being sent to only those prisons which have capacity to accommodate the prisoners,” newspaper Daily Excelsior quoted the sources as having said.
