From New Dispaches. CHANDIGARH: Sukhpal Singh, a son of an Akali leader, Sukhjinder Singh said here today that he and his mother were denied permission by the Tihar Jail authorities for meeting the leader on June 15 and 16.
Sukhpal Singh said it was for the first time that family members of a former Education Minister who has been detained under the National Security Act for more than a year now, have been denied permission to meet him. Sukhjinder Singh was shifted from Agartala jail in Tripura to Delhi on medical grounds.
Sukhjinder Singh wanted medical consultation at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. On his arrival at Tihar jail, Sukhyinder Singh went on fast for four days in protest against the lack of basic amenities in the jail. He broke the fast after certain facilities were provided to him.
Sukhpal Singh said while the InspectorGeneral and the Deputy Inspector General (Prisons), Delhi Administration refused to permit the family members from meeting Sukhjinder Singh the jail authoities permitted Balwant Singh a former Finance Minister in the Barnala Cabinet to meet the detained leader. The two Akali leaders were with Sukhjinder Singh for two hours.
Sukhpal Singh said he even approached the Lieutenant Governor, of Delhi, Romesh Bhandari for his intervention but still the family members were not allowed to meet Sukhjinder Singh. The jail authorities in the end agreed to permit the family members to meet him by standing across the barbed fence as was being done in the case of other under trials, convicts and criminals. The family members however, declined the offer.
Sukhpal Singh said last year, when Sukhjinder Singh was in Tihar jail family members were permitted to meet him twice a week in a separate room. The same practice was followed at the
Agartala jail.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 30, 1989
