Clashes erupt in Gurdaspur Central Jail, inmates burst cylinder, four cops injured

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, March 14

Two groups of inmates at the Gurdaspur Central Jail clashed on the jail premises today and later, they clashed with the police, resulting in injuries to four policemen.

Abusive language triggered fight

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The immediate provocation for the altercation between the two groups was abusive language used by a group led by one Gurpreet Gopa. Two hours into the bedlam, the inmates stopped fighting among themselves. They grouped together and decided to wage a joint fight against the police because of the “exploitation and mistreatment they regularly receive at the hands of the jail authorities.”

The Gurdaspur police had to requisition the services of nearly 400 police personnel drawn from the adjoining police districts to control two groups of angry inmates in the jail. Even tear gas shells were used to bring things under control.

Four policemen, including Dhariwal police station SHO Mandeep Salgotra, were injured. The gravity of their injuries could not be ascertained because almost all the top brass of the Gurdaspur police had rushed inside the complex with the mobile phones of all of them being switched off.

Navinder Singh, SP (Jails), was not present when the clash took place. It is said he was away to Chandigarh to attend a meeting. The injured have been identified as constables Baljinder Singh and Jodh Singh, ASI Jagjit Singh and SHO Mandeep Salgotra.

Around 12 noon, the road leading to the jail premises was sealed giving rise to speculation that some VIP was paying a visit to the prison. This was partly because of the fact that Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Mahabir Singh Sindhu had visited the jail complex two days ago.

It was only when the policemen used tear gas shells that locals got to know that a clash was taking place among inmates. The high-decibel noise and a thick black plume of smoke emanating from the jail complex after the inmates blasted an LPG cylinder only added to the confusion.

Minutes after news spread that all was not well within the jail complex, SSP Harish Dayama reached the prison with senior officers.

DC Aggarwal, too, reached the spot. He made repeated announcements from a loudspeaker asking the inmates to withdraw to their barracks but to no avail.

Dayama, after seeing that things were getting out of control fast, requisitioned the services of policemen of neighbouring police districts Hoshiarpur, Batala, Amritsar and Pathankot.

The prisoners, it is said, were having the advantage of pelting stones at the police from a height. About 50 of them had climbed onto the roof of the mess. Inmates stationed below were uprooting tiles and were handing those over to their colleagues who had stationed themselves on the mess roof.

Around 5 pm, negotiations between the tired lot of prisoners on the one hand and DC Himanshu Aggarwal and police officers commenced.

ADGP (Law and Order) Gurinder Dhillon said, “We spoke to a 10-member committee of the prisoners and have assured them that all their grievances will be looked into. We have brought these to the notice of jail authorities.”