Chennai: Three prison officials, including the Deputy Inspector General (prisons), Vellore Range, have been suspended for allegedly harassing life convicts at Vellore Central Prison. DIG R. Rajalakshmi, Additional Superintendent A. Adbul Rahman and jailer Arul Kumaran were suspended late Tuesday night, ThePrint has learnt.
In September, the Tamil Nadu Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Rajalakshmi, the additional SP, and 12 others for allegedly forcing the life convicts to do household chores at the residence of the DIG and other prison officials.
According to the suspension order signed by Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services Maheshwar Dayal, seen by ThePrint, Rajalakshmi was suspended under 17(e) of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules of 1955 and the other two under Tamil Nadu Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1973.
According to the prison department sources, the three officials were suspended so that a free and fair inquiry could be conducted by the CB-CID police in connection with the case registered against them.
ThePrint reached Rajalakshmi for comment via telephone but she did not respond.
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CJM report confirmed solitary confinement of life convict
In May, S. Sivakumar, 31, who was convicted of murder and serving a life sentence, had allegedly told his mother that Vellore prison officials had been torturing and harassing him by keeping him in solitary confinement.
In August, after all her efforts to meet her son at Vellore prison failed, Shivakumar’s mother, S Kalavathi, filed a writ petition before the Madras High Court.
When the case came up for hearing on 9 August, her counsel, P. Pugalenthim told the court that Kalavathi had learnt her son was being brutally tortured inside the Vellore prison on suspicion of stealing Rs 4.25 lakhs from Rajalakshmi’s residence Rajalakshmi. The lawyer also told the court that Kalavathi had not been able to meet her son since May.
The bench, comprising justices SM Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam, ordered a chief judicial magistrate (CJM) to inquire into the matter and file a report before the court.
In his report, submitted before the court on 5 September, the CJM confirmed that Shivakumar had been kept in solitary confinement for about 95 days, according to the FIR. He could not, however, verify the allegations of theft and the torture inflicted upon Shivakumar solely based on the statement of the convict. The CJM also noted no case had been registered over the alleged theft.
Still, the CJM, according to the FIR, said that there was an “abuse of power in utilising the services of convicts at the residence of DIG with slavery treatment affecting the liberty of the convicts”.
It found that Shivakumar and other residents were being forced to clean the residences of the prison department officials, including DIG Rajalakshmi.
After perusing the report, the Madras High Court ordered that Shivakumar be shifted to Salem Central Prison and be given medical care. The court also ordered the prison department to take action against the erring officials and the CB-CID to register a case and investigate the matter. In September, 14 prison officials including Rajalakshmi were booked for allegedly forcing life convicts to do household chores at the residences of the DIG & others.
The judges also said they would keep the writ petition pending to monitor the case. On 8 September, CB-CID police booked 14 prison officials, including Rajalakshmi, under sections 49 (abetment), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 118(2) (causing grievous hurt), 127(8) (wrongful confinement) and 146 (unlawful compulsory labour) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Rajalakshmi accused of manipulating government documents
This is not the first time that Rajalakshmi has been caught in a controversy. In 2018, during her stint as superintendent of the Special Prison for Women in Trichy, the officer was caught allegedly manipulating the documents to show that sanitary napkins were procured and supplied regularly to the inmates of the prison.
State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) members, on their visit to the prison, found that this was not true and the women inmates had been told to procure the necessities from visiting relatives.
SHRC member Dd Jayachandran initiated suo motu proceedings and, through its inquiry, the commission confirmed the allegations about the non-procurement of sanitary napkins. It further learnt that the Trichy prison department had not procured sanitary napkins between October 2016 and April 2018.
However, in the report submitted before the commission, Rajalakshmi, as then Trichy Prison superintendent, allegedly provided records to show that the napkins were procured from an NGO in Karur and supplied to the inmates regularly.
Irked over the matter, SHRC recommended that the state government initiate disciplinary action against Rajalakshmi and condemned the prison department director for endorsing the superintendent’s report. An explanation was sought but no action was taken against her at the time.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)