Prisoner dies in jail, family alleges torture

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Tarn Taran, January 29

The death of a prisoner lodged in the Central Jail at Sri Goindwal Sahib here has put the jail administration in a spot. The deceased has been identified as Mohinder Pal (42), a resident of Bhikhiwind, who was convicted under the NDPS Act and was lodged in the jail for the last four years.

SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said here on Sunday that the police were informed by the jail authorities that the prisoner was brought to the local Civil Hospital in a serious condition on Saturday night where he died during treatment on Sunday. The doctor on duty in the file of the patient mentioned that the patient was dead at the time he was brought to the hospital.

The family of the victim levelled allegations of negligence against jail authorities. Victim’s wife Baljinder Kaur Neeta and brother Gurpreet, who had come to the Civil Hospital to get the body after a post-mortem, said the family had been receiving mobile calls from Mohinder Pal for the last two days that his condition was serious and the jail authorities were not providing him treatment. The family alleged that Mohinder Pal complained that prisoners were being tortured daily and forced to bring money from their families through a mobile app.

SSP Gurmeet Singh said judicial process was to be adopted in the post-mortem and the process was to be videographed and the case probed. Further proceedings would be conducted as per the medico legal report (MLR). The post-mortem could not be conducted today and it would be done on Monday, added the SSP.