Srinagar, Apr 16: Family members of prisoners lodged at Srinagar’s Central Jail held a peaceful protest here Tuesday demanding the government to quash fresh FIRs lodged against their kin in alleged ‘arson’ case.
Holding placards in their hands which read “Our sons are dying in central jail”, “Prisoners are not safe”, and “Stop shifting prisoners to outside jails”, families of Central jail prisoners assembled at Lal Chowk here this afternoon and staged a protest demanding fresh cases registered against their kin be quashed.
The protesting family members expressed concern over the safety of their wards saying they don’t know whether they are dead or alive as the jail authorities have, for the last 15 days, not been allowing them to meet their imprisoned kin.
“You see the pictures of inmates; they have been severally beaten inside the jail besides being implicated in false case of arson. We went to Central Jail to meet our children but the authorities didn’t allow us to meet them,” said Ghulam Rasool, a parent.
He said dozens of inmates have been seriously injured after being hit with pellets, bullets and teargas shells fired by the jail security staff.
“I want to know whether my son is dead or alive, I am deeply worried about my son’s safety. First they were attacked and injured seriously and then charged with baseless arson case. Kindly tell me which law allows inflicting miseries upon the prisoners,” he added.
Another parent said that their kin are being shifted to outside jails without informing their families about it.
“We demand the government to stall their shifting to outside jails. How could you shift seriously injured inmates to outside state jails? We want the government to allow us to meet our children as we are apprehensive about their safety,” said a woman whose son remains jailed.
The protesting family members appealed Governor Satyapal Malik to order quashing of fresh FIR lodged against their kin and cancel their shifting to outside jails on humanitarian grounds.
