REGIONAL

82 more Hurriyat leaders, militants shifted from Jammu Kashmir Jails to outside

By News Desk

May 15, 2022

The Jammu Kashmir administration has shifted 82 more Hurriyat leaders and Kashmiri militants from different jails of Jammu Kashmir to several other jails in India including in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and New Delhi.

Out of these 82, Forty-four prisoners have been lodged in UP’s Naini jail.

Earlier in the second week of March, the Manoj Sinha-led administration shifted 96 Hurriyat and Kashmir militants detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) to jails outside the Jammu Kashmir.

Quoting unnamed sources, Daily Excelsior reported that most of the separatists and militants including Pakistanis and Kashmiris have been shifted from Kot Bhalwal jail and prisons from the Valley to Haryana, New Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh jails. “Mainly those separatists and militants are being shifted to outside jails who the administration feels could radicalize ordinary criminals in the prisons or those who could instigate subversive activities from inside the jails using mobile telephones and Social Media,” the report quoted sources as saying.

Earlier The Kashmiriyat reported that Jails in Jammu Kashmir are highly overcrowded with an over 112 percent occupancy. There are over 4105 prisoners lodged in 14 jails in Jammu Kashmir against a capacity of 3600.

The report also revealed that the occupancy rate in Special jails of Jammu Kashmir is almost 172 percent. Also, against an available capacity of 3537 male prisoners and 123 female prisoners, Jammu Kashmir jails have 3977 male and 128 female inmates.

Against the total capacity of 1893 in District jails, there are 2466 inmates lodged in these jails throughout Jammu Kashmir.

Most of the Key separatist leaders of Kashmir are lodged in Tihar jail at New Delhi for past quite some time.