NEW DELHE: The inquiry into the death of Rajan Pillai in jail in July should go “beyond Tihar” and fix responsibility for “nonperformance” on specific individuals, says celebrated cop Kiran Bedi in her yet to be released biography.

Biographer Parmesh Dangwal quotes the controversial IPS officer as saying that an independent inquiry be ordered into the conduct of top functionaries. “Can they (these functionaries) only be Judges, but not judged,” says Ms. Bedi in her 328page authorized biography: I Dare.

Quoting her managerial experience, she says that Tihar Jail has been “a victim of apathetic governance” and warned that episodes like Rajan Pillai’s death “will recur.”

Ms. Bedi, who was transferred from Tihar about two months before the Rajan Pillai episode, has dismissed with disdain the magisterial inquiry into Pillai’s death. She says institution of the magisterial inquiry was “’no big deal” as it was mandatory under the rules, “Health services in Tihar Jail have all along been grossly inadequate… They (the provisions) have been treating this prison, crammed with thousands of hapless deviants, with apathy. The poor die a quiet death,” says the Magsaysay Award winner.

Ms. Bedi argues that it’s only cases like those of the high-profile Rajan Pillai which expose the cheapness with which life is treated in Tihar.

Stating that an inquiry is mandatory and not required to be ‘ordered,’ Ms. Bedi demands to know what was special about the magisterial inquiry into Pillai’s death,

The inquiry could have been special, she argues, if it had been ordered to look into the fundamental questions.

Ms. Bedi maintains that an inquiry into all the related issues should be held by a group of independent eminent citizens and not by a subordinate of Delhi Administration.

Ms. Bedi says she strongly feels that the inquiry needs to go beyond Tihar as well.

Within Tihar, it should find out the quality of response of jail officials. Outside Tihar, it should ascertain whether the top functionaries (whom Ms. Bedi prefers to describe as ‘provisions’) did what they were supposed to do and then fix responsibility for individual lapses.

The former Tihar jail chief categorically states that the jail was without proper round-the-clock medical facilities.

“The minimum they should get without delay is to see that at least four qualified doctors are available within the jail premises all the 24 hours.”

“Tihar jail needs to be provided with lifesaving devices and medicines and also with adequately equipped hospitals. What could be worse than to say that while tuberculosis cases are high in Tihar jot even have a TB-specialist.

Ms. Bedi says that Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana and Jail Minister Harsharan Singh Balli visited the jail the day after Pilla’s death and brought journaleses along, though they were kept in such a place where they could not have access to the inner precincts.

“The Minister of Prisons who was well aware of the shortage of doctors, when asked by the CM as to why the vacancies had not been filled, looked the other way.”

“Tam told that the Home Secretary, whose direct responsibility it is to supervise the work, had not visited the jail till then (up to July 10).”

The biographer says that things have come back to square one after the ouster of Ms. Bedi as Tihar jail chief, adding: “The word around the jail is that Ram Rajya has gone and Rayan Rajya has returned.”

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 15, 1995