Stung by the international embarrassment, the Govt souped up Barrack Number 12, and offered proof that Indian jails were indeed adequate...
Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail, one in every of India’s most-recognised prisons incorporates a capacity to deal with 804 inmates, but just like the reminder of town, it's overcrowded and holds 3,000 prisoners. In 2018, when the Indian government had wanted to extradite Vijay Mallya to India, his defence team had cited the poor condition of Indian jails to mention how he mustn't be extradited back. Arthur Road prison, his lawyer argued, wasn't suited her client.
At Arthur Road jail, which was in-built 1925 as a stone and concrete structure over six acres around Byculla area, Barrack No.12 offered the best luxury that one can find in Mumbai space.
Housed during a ground-plus-one old building, it's separated from the remainder of the jail by a high wall. Its past inmates include 26/11 convict Ajmal Kasab, Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, Star TV CEO Peter Mukherjee moreover as Punjab full service bank (PNB) scam accused Vipul Ambani and therefore the Wadhawan brothers, Kapil and Dheeraj, of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited.
But Barrack No. 12 is back within the news for a special quite prisoner. As Maharashtra’s political battle gets uglier, variety of opposition leaders are jailed for various charges of fraud and corruption. The Nationalist Congress Party’s Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik and last, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut are all housed in Barrack No. 12. Earlier in the week, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJ) leader and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis confidante Mohit Kamboj tweeted that another NCP leader would soon be joining Deshmukh and Malik in jail. The joke in Mumbai’s political circles is that soon there could preferably be a cabinet at Arthur Road.
Once powerful ministers with a retinue of assistants, these leaders now look out for one more. When Deshmukh fell and dislocated his jostle April, it absolutely was his party colleague Nawab Malik who came to his immediate aide. The jail authorities only came to grasp of the incident later and rushed Deshmukh to the state-run JJ Hospital for treatment. Malik, too, is now at a hospital for renal complications. Parliamentarian Sanjay Raut — Qaidi #8959 — spends his days within the jail library, reading newspapers and tracking news on the massive LED TV that produces Barrack No. 12 special.
This is a far cry from the solitary cage that Ajmal Kasab occupied within the high-security barrack. A walkway, resulting in an adjoining building where a special court heard his case, was fortified with steel. However, Barrack No. 12 got a heavy upgrade in 2018 after Mallya’s lawyers argued that given the state of Indian prisons, lodging him in one would “violate his human rights”. Mallya is needed in India on charges of fraud and money-laundering to the tune of ₹9,000 crore, and continues to stay in England.
The matter was raked up again in 2020, when fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s lawyers opposed India’s request for extradition before a UK court citing overcrowding and an absence of basic facilities that gained import during the pandemic. Modi, wanted within the ₹13,850-crore PNB scam, claimed that the jails in India were “inhumane” and “old-fashioned sweatboxes”. The lawyers went on to mention that the Arthur Road building was product of stone, shielded in a very steel structure and was a veritable oven.
Stung by the embarrassment, the government’s response was that Barrack No. 12 was kitted up to lodge high-profile prisoners and dismissed both Mallya’s and Modi’s claims as ploys to evade extradition. The barrack was isolated, had natural light and ventilation, a western-style attached toilet and even a 40-inch LED television. Inmates got a mattress, pillow and bedsheets and were served food on melamine crockery. Prisoners lodged here had access to the jail library in addition as newspapers.
“The jail houses over 3,000 prisoners while its official capacity is simply 804. it's 540 hardened inmates, who are arrested under the stringent enactments like Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), quite 400 accused arrested in serious offences like murder, 80 facing terror charges and 140 foreign nationals arrested in various cases especially drug related cases,” a jail official said, requesting anonymity.
But life inside the 15-feet by 20-feet Barrack No. 12 may be a little different.
“Usually, an inmate gets tea at 7 am, breakfast soon at the moment, lunch at 11 am, tea again around 4 pm and dinner around 8 pm,” said advocate Inderpal Singh, who represents Deshmukh who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in November 2021. “They (under-trial prisoners) have a monthly allowance of ₹4,500 that they will spend on food items like biscuits and snacks, soaps and shampoos from the jail canteen. Deshmukh has been allowed a bed because of his severe lower back-ache as he wouldn't be ready to sleep on the ground.”
“The cell has three fans, six tube lights, five ventilators and three windows for fresh air and natural light,” the prisons official quoted above said. It also encompasses a 38.5-metre square area for exercise and a 17.5m buffer zone around it. As jails go, Barrack 12 gets a five-star rating
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