Mumbai: Nearly a month after a 31-year-old convicted prisoner died by suicide inside the Nashik Central prison, five convicted prisoners – who allegedly witnessed his ill-treatment at the hands of jail officials – have now written a letter claiming they fear for their lives.
The deceased convict, Asghar Ali Mansoori, who was in prison for a little over 14 years in connection with a murder case, had allegedly wrapped a two-page detailed suicide note in a polythene bag and swallowed it before ending his life on October 7. In this detailed note, Mansoori had held five prison staff responsible for his death.
The incident first reported in The Wire had pushed the prison department to set up a departmental inquiry against those named in Mansoori’s letter. Around the time when Mansoori’s family was informed by the Nashik Road police about a hidden note in his abdomen, six other convicted prisoners, all lodged in cells nearby, had also sent out letters seeking urgent interventions.
These letters, written to the prison officials, a district court and Bombay high court judge, described the alleged condition in which Mansoori was made to live in, eventually leading to his death. All six convicted prisoners, one of whom has since been released on completing his jail term, had stated that they wanted their statements to be recorded before a magistrate under section 164 of the code of criminal procedure (CrPC).
These letters, however, went unacknowledged by the courts, and the Nashik Road police which have been looking into the matter refrained from filing an FIR against the officials accused in Mansoori’s letter.
In fact, those accused by Mansoori, continue to work at the Nashik Central prison, which Mansoori’s family fears as it gives those accused direct access to both evidences and witnesses.
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A fresh call for action
The convicted prisoners, in a new letter sent out a few days ago through a prisoner released recently, claim that they have been put under tremendous pressure to disown those letters they earlier wrote. The incarcerated persons also claim that they fear that the jail officials could “push them” into doing something similar to what Mansoori did.
“We have been continuously tortured by the jail officials. We aren’t willing to withdraw our statements, so the jail officials can go to any extent… can get us killed,” they wrote. It is evident from the letter that their statements have not been recorded yet, both by a magistrate or by the special inspector general of police level officer who was assigned the task to inquire if there were any departmental lapses.
A new letter written by convicts claim that they have been put under tremendous pressure to disown those letters they earlier wrote. Photo: Special arrangement
In the recent letter, the prisoners have urged the higher officials to provide them with adequate security and ensure that they are not punished for speaking the truth. A jail source has confirmed that this letter – with individual names, signatures and thumb impressions – has once again been dispatched to the district sessions judge, chief justice of the Bombay high court and the additional director general (prisons).
While deaths in prisons are a common phenomenon, this was perhaps the first time that a prisoner had managed to convey the anguish he went through before killing himself. His damning letter, however, did not move the state police to initiate adequate action. Instead of a criminal proceeding, a departmental inquiry was initiated.
Refusing to register an FIR
Mansoori’s family had visited the Nashik Road police station and sought a proper investigation into the incident. The police, however, had sent the family back claiming that they will first investigate into the accidental death report (ADR) filed soon after his death and if any criminal act was found in the process, an FIR will be lodged.
The Wire contacted the senior police inspector of Nashik Road, Suraj Bijli, to find out the latest in the incident. He repeated what he had claimed a fortnight ago. “We are still looking into the matter.” ADG (prisons) Sunil Ramanand said that the officer handling the departmental inquiry had to suddenly take a leave from work due to a family emergency. “The officer had visited the (Nashik) prison on multiple occasions and written a report. But he had to go on leave suddenly. Once he is back and hands over the report, we would act upon it,” Ramanand said.
Mansoori, according to his family, was still a minor when he was arrested in a murder case. He was eventually convicted and awarded life imprisonment. His good conduct had won him a jail warder’s position. But according to his suicide note and also that of other convicted prisoners, he was pushed into solitary confinement for having confronted some jail personnel.
One of the convicted prisoners who named a jail staff in his letter claimed, “The officer would smuggle ganja and a cell phone into the jail, and he suspected that Asghar was informing the higher officials. So, he had ensured Asghar was separated from the other prisoners and shifted from a circle to separate cell.”
This isolation for close to six months and unceremoniously snatching away of all jail responsibilities had allegedly caused Mansoori unbearable sadness, several prisoners’ letters have claimed. He finally had hung himself using several elastic straps found in masks.