Chandigarh August 7:
            The Punjab government has decided to write to the Centre to allow grant of bail in cases of petty crime at the police station level in the Police Commissionerate cities of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar as a first step to solve the problem of overcrowding in its jails.
There are increased incidents of clashes in jails in Punjab due to severe overcrowding as well as increased collusion of criminals with jail staff that results in drugs, mobile phones and other contraband entering the jail premises.
Even as the Jails Department has ordered a inquiry which will be held by DIG, Jails, Jagjit Singh into yesterday’s incident of a gang war between the two groups of inmates at the Ludhiana central jail, Jail Minister Hira Singh Gabria told reporters that the Home Ministry would be approached to allow grant of bail in petty cases at police stations only.
“Undertrials are mainly responsible for overcrowding in Punjab jails,” the Jail Minister said, adding that more than half the inmates in jails in the state were undertrials. He said due to this against a capacity of 12,000 inmates, the state’s jails were packed with more than 17,000 inmates.
Besides the problem of undertrials, jails get packed whenever there is any agitation in the state as was seen during the agitation seeking to prevent dismantling of the state electricity utility some months back. The state had recently started video conferencing from the jail premises in order to reduce avenues of clashes that occur when inmates are taken to court. The clash yesterday at Ludhiana also happened after two groups were returning from court and argued over who would enter the jail first.
There is also the issue of collusion of jail staff with inmates that has resulted in mobile phone and drugs entering the jails on a regular basis. The minister when questioned said this was a problem but said corrective action was being taken against jail staff wherever needed.
Meanwhile, the Jail Minister said work was underway to increase the capacity of jails with the establishment of two new central jails at Kapurthala and Faridkot and one district jail at Nabha. Both the Kapurthala and Faridkot jails would have half portions of 1,100 capacities each ready by March 31. In Nabha a capacity for housing 600 inmates has been created and the facility is likely to be operational soon. In another development, the Jail Department is promoting installation of printing presses in jails so that inmates can be gainfully employed.