Jharkhand HC initiates PIL over alleged sexual exploitation of female inmate in Ranchi jail

The Jharkhand High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of allegations of a woman inmate being sexually exploited by the Birsa Munda Central Jail superintendent.

The Jharkhand High Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of reports of alleged sexual exploitation of a woman inmate of Birsa Munda Central Jail by the prison superintendent and registered a public interest litigation in the matter.

A division bench of Justices Rongon Mukhopadhyay and Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, sitting in the vacation court, directed the state government to file a detailed report on the issue.

The court also ordered DGP Tadasha Mishra to file an affidavit and apprise it of the steps taken in the investigation.

Observing the seriousness of the allegations, the bench said, ''The issue of such magnitude where in the custodian of the welfare of the inmates has been alleged to have become the predator needs a proper and detailed response from the state as to what steps have been initiated to verify the truthfulness or otherwise of the allegations so made.''.

While recording its order, the court observed that the report of sexual exploitation of a female inmate by the superintendent of Birsa Munda Central Jail led to her becoming pregnant.

Later on, attempts were also made to terminate her foetus.

It further observed that there were claims of attempts to hush up the incident by senior officials.

The government informed the court that a three-member committee of senior officials has been constituted to probe the allegations against the jail superintendent.

In addition, a team of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), led by Judicial Magistrate Shruti Soren, has been tasked with conducting an independent inquiry.

The matter has been listed for hearing on June 8.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand's leader of opposition Babulal Marandi wrote to Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday, alleging sexual exploitation of women by officials in the state's prisons.

The BJP leader alleged that despite raising the issue earlier this week regarding the alleged sexual exploitation of a woman inmate at Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, the administration was trying to ''bury the evidence'' and shield those involved.

Marandi also levelled allegations against a jail official, accusing him of repeatedly misusing his position and authority.

He alleged that the official ''has been habituated to grossly exploiting women'' by abusing the authority, rank and intimidation factor associated with his uniform.

The BJP leader further claimed that the official also allegedly exploited a woman home guard, and her family faced intimidation and threats when objections were raised.

He demanded the immediate suspension of the official and sought a high-level independent inquiry into the matter.

The BJP leader had also written a letter to the CM over the same issue on Sunday, following which a team from the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority (JHALSA) visited the jail on Tuesday.

JHALSA secretary Kumari Ranjana Asthana had said that, acting on the directions of executive chairperson Justice S N Prasad, a four-member team from the Ranchi District Legal Services Authority visited the jail and questioned the alleged victim, accused officials and other inmates.

''The team has prima facie found the allegations to be true. However, we can comment further only after the report is submitted,'' Asthana had told PTI.

Earlier, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri had constituted a three-member committee to investigate the allegations.