SRINAGAR: Panic gripped the Anantnag district jail after an inmate tested positive for Coronavirus on Friday. Identified as Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, he has been tested positive for Covid-19 and shifted to the district hospital for further treatment.

Imprisoned under Public Safety Act, Zahoor is the younger brother of JKLF founder Muhammad Maqbool Bhat.

Hospital sources told Kashmir Life that Zahoor was shifted from Jail to the hospital on Friday afternoon after his reports confirmed him to be Covid positive.

Earlier this week, Zahoor had complained of fever and chills and he was prescribed medicines and injections. Later his sample was taken for the examination, of which the report came on Friday.

Detained under PSA for the third time in a row, Zahoor was initially in Rajasthan jail. Later he was shifted to sub-jail Kupwara and finally taken to Anantnag jail in March this year.

As the family came to know about the report of Zahoor, they grew anxious. The family alleged that the inside condition of inmates is not good inside the jail vis a vis COVID measures. “They put the huge number in a small space, that adds the risk of contracting the infection,” said a member of the Bhat family.

Besides, it is reported that around a dozen inmates have started developing symptoms of the infection.

Jail superintendent Sheroz Ahmad has confirmed that Zahoor had been tested positive and shifted out. He, however, said the authorities were taking “all the precautionary measures and medical team was on the job.”

Official data suggests, against a total capacity of 3,232, there are a total of 3,628 inmates in 14 jails across Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

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