Delhi HC seeks status report from Tihar Jail on plea seeking protection to witnesses in undertrial Ankit Gujjar death case

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a status report from the Tihar Jail prison authority indicating the steps taken to ensure safety to witnesses in connection with undertrial Ankit Gujjar death case inside the prison and also directed that the witnesses should be kept in an area under fully operational CCTV monitoring.

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a status report from the Tihar Jail prison authority indicating the steps taken to ensure safety to witnesses in connection with undertrial Ankit Gujjar death case inside the prison and also directed that the witnesses should be kept in an area under fully operational CCTV monitoring. The Court was hearing a petition seeking to ensure the safety and security of the petitioners, who are witnesses in inmate Ankit Gujjar death, inside the Jail and to further restrain the said respondents from threatening/coercing/injuring them with a view to prevent them from seeking justice for themselves and the deceased inmate.

Justice Mukta Gupta asked Tihar Jail authorities to file a status report indicating measures taken to ensure the safety and security of the petitioner and listed the matter for September 27 for further hearing. The plea was filed by five persons through advocate Mehmood Pracha and Shariq Nisar.

According to the petition, petitioners are all inmates of prisons and are eye-witnesses to the alleged murder of one Ankit Gujjar, deceased, by jail officials, inside Central Jail on August 3 this year. Two of them were the co-inmates of the deceased in his cell and are therefore witnesses to the entire incident, the petition said. While one of the petitioners was an inmate in another ward and was witness to the public beating of the deceased by jail officials which took place at the Chakker. Rest two are sevadars in the jail and had also consequently witnessed the entire sequence of events leading up to the death of Ankit Gujjar, the petition said.

According to the petition, two petitioners are currently out on bail in their respective cases granted by the court. However, on expiry of their interim bail, they will be required to go back to the same prison and will yet again be at the mercy of Respondent officials and, hence, they have been constrained to approach this Court, ensuring their safety inside the jail. Earlier, the Delhi High Court has transferred the probe into undertrial prisoners Ankit Gujjar's death case in Tihar jail to CBI. (ANI)

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