SRINAGAR: In the aftermath of Tuesday’s dramatic escape from police custody of top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant Muhammad Naveed Jutt, alias Abu Hanzala, all the 16 Pakistani prisoners lodged in Srinagar Central Jail (SCJ) are being shifted to Jammu or other prisons outside the Kashmir Valley.
They along with other foreign prisoners, including undertrials currently lodged in the Valley prisons, will be shifted to Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua and other parts of Jammu region within three days, said the police sources here.
Also the security at and around the SCJ and other prisons in the Valley has been beefed up further and the concerned authorities have been asked not to allow routine medical check-up of inmates at medical facilities outside the jail premises till further orders. Those prisoners who are scheduled to appear for hearings in different courts in the Valley in coming days will be escorted by heavy contingents of the J&K police or the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) or the courts will be requested to defer the hearings.
These steps are being taken following directions from Union Home Ministry which has also asked the State authorities to deploy the CRPF inside the jails in the restive Valley and involve it in all aspects of SCJ security which includes its deployment in perimeter as well as inside the prison on the foothills of Hari Parbat hill.
Naveed escaped from Srinagar’s Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS) where he was taken for routine check-up from SCJ on the February 6 morning.
Naveed and two militants who had come to free him shot dead two policemen who were escorting the prisoner. The government has admitted to it being a security lapse and has placed the jail superintendent Hilal Ahmed Rather under suspension and removed several other officials from present postings, including director-general of Prisons, SK Mishra, who has since been replaced by senior IPS officer Dilbag Singh.
The Centre is reported to have taken a serious note of the lapse and asked the state government to take all necessary steps to ensure such incidents do not reoccur. Apart from fully reviewing security measures, it has asked the concerned authorities in the state to keep a close watch on the inmates at SCJ and other Valley prisoners and the visitors including the relatives of these prisoners. The jail authorities raided the barracks to ensure no mobile phones are being used by prisoners, the sources said.
