Ram Rahim cools heels in state’s ‘worst’ jail

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 12

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is cooling his heels in Haryana’s ‘worst’ jail. A performance audit of 19 jails by the Prisons Department has found that Rohtak’s Sunaria Jail, where the rape convict is lodged, fares at the bottom among the state’s prisons on 32 key performance indicators.

The indicators include cleanliness, prison management system, health check-up camps, daily yoga and sports participation, agricultural production, CCTV coverage and alarm parade attendance.

With a cumulative score of 142, the Rohtak jail is placed at the bottom, followed by Gurugram (143) and Jind (146). Rewari (256), Sonepat (248) and Faridabad (231) are the top three jails in the state.

The Rohtak jail scores high on jailbreak and escape cases and video-conferencing facilities. Video-conferencing facilities at the jail will come in handy as other cases against the rape convict, including that of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati’s murder, are at different stages of trial.

The Dera Sacha Sauda chief, enjoying Z+ security before conviction, faces security threats. This was evident as a special makeshift jail was set up for the CBI Judge for pronouncing the quantum of punishment to him at the Sunaria Jail on August 28.

The score on other jails in the state is: Ambala 215, Hisar-I 205, Hisar-II 218, Sirsa 178, Bhiwani 173, Kaithal 186, Kurukshetra 184, Narnaul 207, Yamunanagar 168, Palwal 174, Karnal 212, Jhajjar 172 and Panipat 195.

Premi commits suicide in Hisar
Hisar: A dera premi committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in Kalwas on the Hisar-Rajgarh road in the district today. Bhup Singh, a resident of Kalwas village was living in Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa for the last 20 years. He had returned home about two weeks ago after the dera chief Ram Rahim was convicted in a rape case. His son Pradeep said his father was mentally upset for some time. TNS