Delhi riots:Accused made false, mischievous allegations to gain sympathy:Jail authorities to court

With regard to the allegations that Malik was not given food by the prison authorities, the Jail Superintendent further claimed that he has been fed like every other inmate.With regards to the allegations about not providing food to him by the administration, the same is false, mischievous and made only to gain sympathy of the Court.

The Mandoli jail authorities has claimed before a court here that an accused in a north east Delhi riots case, who had alleged of being badly beaten by prison officials, misbehaved with staff and made “false”, “mischievous” allegations to gain sympathy. The Superintendent of Mandoli jail made the submissions before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dinesh Kumar in a report filed on the allegations made by accused Tanveer Malik. Malik, arrested in the case related to the communal violence in Dayalpur area in February this year, had alleged that he was beaten up badly by prison officials on December 8 and he was not taken to the hospital for medical examination. He had further alleged that he has not been given any food and the jail officials have been threatening him to enter into a compromise otherwise they would make his life difficult inside the prison. The report, filed before the court on December 18, stated that Malik's injuries were caused when the prison officials tried to pacify him as he allegedly got violent. It further said that upon receipt of an alleged secret information on December 8, about some of the inmates in the Malik's ward were allegedly using mobile phones, a search team was constituted comprising of Warden Manjeet, Warden Sachin Kumar, Head Warden Amit Kumar under the supervision of Naresh Kumar, Assistant Superintendent in the morning the same day. “When the team was searching and frisking man and material in the barrack, suddenly accused Tanveer Malik became violent and started misbehaving with the prison staff. There was no reason for him to panic and create ruckus in the barrack if he had nothing to reveal/ hide. This prompted the Jail Staff to be suspicious and accordingly took him to the Internal Control Centre/ Chakkar for further investigation into the matter. “There at Control Centre, during the course of questioning, he became violent and started making loud derogatory and filthy allegations against the prison staff. In order to pacify/ control him, he was reprimanded. In the melee, he fell down and resultantly injured his toe.

He was taken to the hospital and provided requisite medical care/ treatment/ dressing,” the report alleged. It said that the doctors found one lacerated wound on his right toe and no other external injury marks were noticed to the naked eye. “Thus it is clear except the injury on toe there were no other bruises or any trace of injuries over his person,” it said. The report further noted that when Malik was produced before the court on December 8, he did not divulge about any incident of commotion or injuries suffered by him and subsequently on the next day he complained about the alleged beating. It further said that as per the court's directions he was taken to Dr Hedgewar Arogya Sansthan, Karkardooma on December 10, where the doctors observed bruises over right leg, wound on the right toe and recommended medicines and treatment and the same was provided to the inmate. It added that since there was strong lead about presence and usage of mobile phone in the prison ward, intensive searches were again carried out on December 12 and the prison administration was able find one mobile phone which was clandestinely hidden in the toilet block by another inmate.

“I joined Jail number 13 as Superintendent on December 11 (afternoon) and when this fact was brought to my notice, therefore, I had also called the inmate, Tanveer Malik and heard him in detail on December 15. He admitted that he is receiving food and medicines regularly. Further, he has also stated that he has no threat to his life, at present in the Jail. “Since no phone was physically recovered from the inmate Tanveer, no punishment to this effect was prepared. However, since he had misbehaved — with the prison personnel on duty on December 8, he was warned and directed to observe and adhere himself to the rigmarole of Jail discipline,” the Superintendent said in the report. With regard to the allegations that Malik was not given food by the prison authorities, the Jail Superintendent further claimed that he has been fed like every other inmate.

“With regards to the allegations about not providing food to him by the administration, the same is false, mischievous and made only to gain sympathy of the Court. He has been fed like every other inmate of this jail and the prison administration does not depict any biases against any inmate presently in custody. “With regard to the observations of the Court to consider his transfer to some other jail, in this connection it is submitted that safety and security of the inmates including Tanveer, is responsibility of the Prison Administration. Transfer of prisoners from one jail to another is decided by Prison HQ (headquarters) and till now, the inmate has not pressed for his transfer to some other Jail,” the report claimed. The incident came to light when advocate Salim Malik, appearing for the accused, informed the court on December 8 that Tanveer has been allegedly beaten inside the jail and was badly injured.