Inmate wrongly released from Haryana's Ambala jail, Anil Vij asks DG prisons to probe matter

Chandigarh, December 12

Advertisement

Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday took serious note of an inmate mistakenly released from Ambala jail and asked the director general of prisons to investigate the matter.

Vij said he also spoke to the jail administration and was informed by them that “some other person was released by mistake” in place of the one who was granted bail.

The minister termed it a “serious matter” and said because of such mistakes, anyone can be wrongly released by the jail administration.

Meanwhile, official sources said the Ambala jail administration has initiated action against two jail employees and an inquiry is being conducted.

The matter was brought to Vij’s notice on Tuesday when he was redressing public grievances at his residence in Ambala.

According to an official statement, the aggrieved family members of the inmate who was not released despite getting bail alleged that the Ambala Jail administration also registered a “fake case” against him.

Vij then spoke over the phone with the DG of prisons and directed him to investigate the matter and take strict action against the erring officials.

“How is it possible? There is an elaborate procedure before any inmate is released. His or her fingerprints, and other details are taken and cross-verified,” he told the DG.

Vij also told him that if an inmate is released in this manner, “then this could be the modus operandi in some other cases also”.

“In this manner, even a big criminal can be got released from jail,” said Vij, terming the entire matter very serious.

Vij, according to the statement, said that without the “connivance” of the jail administration, it would not be possible for someone else to be released in place of another inmate.

The family members of the inmate, hailing from Balana village in Ambala district, told Vij that he was lodged in Ambala Central Jail in connection with a quarrel case and was granted bail recently.

But when they reached the jail on the day of his release, the administration told them that he had already gone home.

When they could not find him anywhere, they went to the jail again but got no clear answers to their queries, the family told Vij.

About a week later, they came to know that he was being produced in court again. When the family members reached there, the inmate told them that the jail administration had wrongly released someone else in his place and to cover up their mistake, they had arrested him again in a “fake case”.

The family demanded strict action against the jail administration in this matter and the cancellation of the alleged fake case registered against the inmate, the statement said.