This story is from May 6, 2013

20 Indians in Lahore jail mentally ill: Judicial panel

As many as 20 of the 36 Indian prisoners in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail were found to be mentally unstable by an India-Pakistan judicial committee on prisoners that visited Pakistan’s jails between April 26 and May 1.
20 Indians in Lahore jail mentally ill: Judicial panel
NEW DELHI: As many as 20 of the 36 Indian prisoners in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail were found to be mentally unstable by an India-Pakistan judicial committee on prisoners that visited Pakistan’s jails between April 26 and May 1. The panel, which looked at the state of Indian prisoners in jails across Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore, discovered that 469 of the 535 Indian prisoners lodged there had not been provided consular access.
In what clearly reflects the state of Indian prisoners in Pakistan’s jails, the committee "noticed" that 23 Indian prisoners – 20 in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, two in Adiala jail and one in Malir district jai – were languishing in jail despite being "mentally challenged".

Two Indian prisoners, Sarabjit Singh and Chamel Singh, were recently killed in attacks by their fellow inmates in Kot Lakhpat jail.
Recommending that terminally ill, mentally challenged and deaf and mute prisoners be kept at appropriate hospitals or special institutions irrespective of confirmation of their national status and offence, a joint statement of the panel asked the Pakistani authorities to share the copies of FIR, medical report and photograph of the "mentally challenged" prisoners at the time of detention, with the Indian High Commission there, to enable renewed efforts to confirm their nationality.
The committee recommended consular access to the 459 Indian fishermen and 10 civil prisoners lodged in Pakistan’s jails, before May 17, followed by initiation of process to confirm their nationality.
Of the 535 Indian prisoners presented before the committee — comprising retired judges from India and Pakistan — 483 (including 11 juveniles) are fishermen. Among the 52 civil prisoners believed to be Indians, 36 are in Kot Lakhpat jail and 8 each in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail and district jail, Malir, Karachi.

In contrast, there are around 300 Pakistanis, including 260 fishermen, lodged in Indian jails. The committee plans to visit Indian jails next in the second half of September this year.
Referring to the consular access agreement of May 2008 signed between India and Pakistan, the panel sought consular access for Indian prisoners in Pakistan jails, and vice versa, within three months of the arrest and not after completion of the prisoner’s prison term. It recommended that consular access be provided to all prisoners and fishermen by either side at least four times in a year.
According to the committee, the Indian prisoners, just like Pakistani prisoners in Karachi jail, should be allowed to make phone calls to their relatives in India at least once a month. It also sought expeditious trial of all undertrial prisoners, asking for legal assistance to pursue their court cases.
author
About the Author
Bharti Jain

Bharti Jain is senior editor with The Times of India, New Delhi. She has been writing on security matters since 1996. Having covered the Union home ministry, security agencies, Election Commission and the ‘prime’ political beat, the Congress, for The Economic Times all these years, she moved to TOI in August 2012. Her repertoire of news stories delves into the whole gamut of issues related to terrorism and internal strife, besides probing strategic affairs in India’s neighbourhood.

End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA