234 Prisoners From J-K Lodged In UP Jails, 27 In Haryana Prisons, Government Tells Rajya Sabha

Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy on Wednesday said that around 234 prisoners of Jammu and Kashmir are currently lodged in different jails of Uttar Pradesh. The Union minister told Parliament on Wednesday that 27 other inmates of Jammu and Kashmir have been lodged in prisons in Haryana. Apart from prisoners who have been lodged in other states, there are a total of 3,248 prisoners who are in the jails of Jammu and Kashmir. This makes the total number of prisoners belonging to Jammu and Kashmir lodged in jail since August 4, 2019.

Out of these, presently 609 persons are under preventive detentions which include 218 stone pelters. Reddy also said that 194 cases have been registered in Jammu and Kashmir for breach of peace, since August 5.

In 2018, as many as 2,728 people were in the jails of Jammu and Kashmir, while 41 other inmates from the state were in the jails of Haryana, he added.

These prisoners include those detained after the Centre, on August 5, announced abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcation of the state into Union territories, undertrial detainees and convicts.

The cases against those lodged in various jails were related to murder, attempt to murder, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rape, theft, burglary, dowry death, kidnapping and abduction, cheating, those registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Arms Act, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), besides preventive detention, Reddy said.

He added that the government of Jammu and Kashmir had reported that in order to prevent commission of offences involving breach of peace, activities prejudicial to the security of the state and maintenance of public order, 5,161 people, including stone-pelters, overground workers, separatists, etc. were taken into preventive custody in the Kashmir Valley since August 4.

“Of them, 609 are under preventive detention. Since, these people have been detained under statutory provisions by the magistrates concerned, based on their satisfaction in each case, it is not possible for the government to give any timeline for their release,” the minister said.

With PTI Inputs