Human rights violation cases very high in Bihar jails

A prisoner dies almost every second day in Bihar owing to very pathetic living conditions and alarming health facilities prevailing in jails, according to an official report.

According to an official report, a total of 175 prisoners died in various jails of Bihar last year, followed by 180 in 2007 and 164 in 2006 while the number of custodial death cases in 2005 was 205. This year, 56 prisoners have died till April.

“The allegations of tortures to the prisoners are not correct. In fact, the poor health facilities could be largely blamed for this”, said IG (Jails), Bihar, Shiv Kumar.

“The number of prisoners in Bihar jails has gone up alarmingly in recent years but in the same ratio, the number of doctors and para-medical staffs has not increased and this is the problem “, the IG said.

According to the jail officials, a total of about 1400 prisoners in the age-group of 65-70 are currently suffering from serious health ailments.

As per report, a total of about 44,000 prisoners are currently lodged in total 54 jails of Bihar.

Of the total prisoners, over 30,000 are Hindus, 6851 are Muslims, 115 Sikhs and 132 Christians.

Of them, 91 have been sentenced to hanging, 6765 have been awarded life imprisonment while 1828 have given imprisonment for 10 or more than 10 years.link