Massacre in Bihar Prison

NK SINGH

Thank God, after a brief but hellish stage of political instability, Bihar is once again ruled by a stable government, with a Chief Minister who claims to be firmly in the saddle of affairs. 

Many would find in him the shadow of Mr K. B. Sahay, the erstwhile 'strongman' of Bihar politics who would not budge an inch from his stand.

However stupid it may be. Mr Kedar Pandey, who being wisely "assisted, helped and aided" by a New Delhi controlled "liaison committee" called by cynics the 'super cabinet'-made it clear to one and all that he is not one of those Chief Ministers who could be cowed down by the opposition's hue and cry.

After all, he not only heads a government that rules over 60 million people but is also Mrs Gandhi's choice in Bihar. 

Or more likely, Mr Pandey, in his eagerness to become another Churchill and Nehru, merely followed the advice extended by Mark Twain: "In statesmanship get the formalities right, never mind about the moralities."

Justifying the police firing in Bhagalpur Special Jail last month, in which ten prisoners were killed and 160 others injured (according to official sources), Mr Pandey refused the opposition's unanimous demand for setting up a legislators' body to enquire into the incident because "it would have a demoralising effect on the administration. 

To further tone up the administrative abilities of top bureaucrats, he also turned down a proposal that either he or one of his cabinet colleagues should visit the spot of the tragedy. 

The opposition members, including the Sarkari Communists, staged a walkout from the State Legislative Assembly in protest against the "false and misleading" statement of the Chief Minister.

Following is a brief resume of the 'false and misleading" statement, which, if taken with a pinch of salt, makes an interesting story:

As a rule, the Bhagalpur Special Jail lodges only hardened criminals mostly murderers and dacoits and undertrial prisoners facing charges of equally heinous crimes, besides the Naxalites. 

However, about 323 homoeopathic students, arrested in April in connection with their agitation for better educational facilities, were sent to the same jail as the other jails were jampacked. The students went on hunger strike for better amenities and the authorities conceded to their demands. 

Impressed by the success of the students, the ordinary inmates too launched an agitation on May 4 in support of their demands : Removal of hardships faced by visitors; supply of three blankets to each prisoner; frequent change in the vegetables supplied with meals; end to warders' misbehaviour; cinema shows according to jail rules; prisoners sentenced up to three months should not be put in fetters and made to work in the jail compound; supply of fans: provision of earthen pots for drinking water: regular supply of lime and phenyl; supply of a wooden box for every ward; reintroduction of the supply of ink for writing purposes; and stoppage of the use of rotten vegetables.

The authorities agreed to concede to the minor demands; others were "unreasonable" and could not be accepted.

The situation became explosive on May 5 when the agitators grew violent and virtually took control of the jail administration. 

They turned the prison into a virtual fort by driving away all the jail officials save one doctor and locking the entrance gate from the inner side. After that, the 35-odd Naxalite prisoners were set free from their cells. Food was not a problem as there was enough stock in the jail godown.

The situation took a serious turn on May 7 when the agitating prisoners prevented the 323 homoeopathic students whose release had been ordered by the State Government from going out of jail. They insisted on holding the students as hostages till their demands were met. 

Two of the students, however, gave them the slip. This enraged the convicts, who armed themselves with "bombs, arrows, swords and other weapons improvised out of iron rods, iron sheets, iron wire and other material kept on the premises for construction work" and took up positions on trees and walls. They threatened the students with dire consequences if they tried to escape.

The Jail Superintendent sought police help when violence by the prisoners did not abate even on the fourth day. The police operation began in the early hours of May 8. The inmates attacked the police with arrows, stones, spears, iron rods and even bombs when they moved into the jail premises to rescue the students. 

With "the situation going out of control," the services of the notorious Central Reserve Police were requisitioned. As "minimum force was applied and the firing was controlled" (via the Chief Minister), only ten prisoners were killed and about 160 injured. 

While no student was injured in the firing, some of them sustained injuries in their efforts to escape from the violent prisoners. Here ends the official version of the massacre.

Another Side

However, the General Secretary of the Bihar State Homoeopathic Students Union, who was in jail along with other students, has come out with a different and shocking version. 

According to him, the utter misbehaviour with prisoners by the authorities like Superintendent, Jailor and Assistant Jailor led to the firing. 

He put the casualties at 58 killed and 200 injured against the official figure of ten killed and 160 injured. 

Challenging the official statement that the firing was made only to rescue homoeopathic students detained by the 'habitual criminals', he said that those prisoners were demanding only adequate food, clothes, medicine and other amenities as prescribed under the jail rules. 

He denied that some homoeopathic students were injured while escaping from the clutches of the convicts. These students were in fact, he alleged, severely assaulted with lathis and boots by constables. 

The episode is only a further reminder of the fact that something is wrong with the jail administration in Bihar. To kill prisoners by the dozen, unthinkable even during the British days, has become a routine feature. 

Only last year in similar incidents in Patna and Hazaribagh jails a score of prisoners were killed -- nay murdered. There is no sanctity of human life in Bihar jails which, owing to gross corruption and inefficiency on the part of officials, have been turned into a devil's island.

Complaints against the jail administration and charges of corruption have often been aired by political as well as ordinary prisoners. Shocking exposures have been made in the course of an enquiry conducted into the Patna jail firings. 

According to a prisoners' representative, various malpractices committed in that jail forced the starving prisoners to sell their blood. 

Mr Ramratan Singh, the sole member of the enquiry commission, himself spotted a ganja shop on the premises when he visited the jail at the request of some prisoners. Many journalists and lawyers were also witnesses to it.

In one sub-jail in Purnea district, it is said, even prostitutes are provided for favoured prisoners.

Overcrowding is a common problem in all the jails, most of them housing twice as many prisoners as they are meant to lodge. In some jails, the prisoners have to sleep in three-hour shifts. 

The classic example of overcrowding in Patna jail was disclosed when over 100 Jana Sangh workers arrested in connection with a demonstration had to be set free after several hours because there was no room for them. 

Toilet facilities are practically nil and the lavatories are stinking horrors. Food and clothing meant for prisoners are sources of income for the jail staff. 

The prison administration never complains of overcrowding because it is the case of "more-the-merrier" --  the totality of their share from the sanctioned expenses incurred onboarding and clothing is naturally higher.

More than fifty per cent of the prisoners rot in jails without trial for years together. In many cases, they remain in jail for four to five years although the charges against them do not warrant more than six to twelve months imprisonment. 

Nobody has cared to improve the living conditions of persons deprived of their liberty for periods longer than those prescribed even under the laws of the land. 

The jail administration is hand in glove, with the worst type of criminal convicts who act as their agents, share alike the loot and enjoy facilities denied to their victims inside the jail.

If the prisoners become restive and revolt against a callous government and the corrupt and brutal jail administration, who is to blame?

Frontier 

June 3,1972