One Prison, Two Worlds

 


Two inmates at Beur Central Jail. Entirely different living conditions for each of them, thanks to the dual standards adopted by the state administration.

Nalin Verma
The author is The Statesman’s Patna-based Special Representative.


Barmeshwar Singh, Ranvir Sena chief, is lodged in the Sarswati ward and getting VIP treatment. Incidentally, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav was lodged in this ward.
And Ajay Kanu alias Raviji, PW’s Magadh zonal commander, is undergoing third degree torture barely next door.


Barmeshwar, accused of masterminding the massacre of 500 Dalits in central Bihar, was allowed to meet the press outside the prison gates yesterday. He announced to the world he would “control his cadre from the prison”. “I believe in the philosophies of Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi ...We have taken up arms to guard our rights and prestige against the Naxalites.”
Ajay Kanu, arrested just a day before Barmeshwar, is in shackles and is being kept in specially prepared cell. He was reportedly beaten up black and blue before the court remanded him to jail and has not been allowed to meet anyone.


Jehanabad police has decided to take Kanu on remand for “interrogation to extract more information”. According to the PW’s state committee secretary Mr Prakash, “police may kill Raviji on way to Jehanabad from Beur jail”.SPs of Bhojpur, Jehanabad, Gaya and Aurangabad had come to interrogate Barmeshwar on 30 August at the police station. But none of them applied pressure to extract any information from him, Kotwali police station
officers said. “They just noted down what Barmeshwar said.”


For Kanu, things were different. About 12 policemen had reportedly beaten him up with lathis in the lock up after he was arrested on 28 August. The Naxalite leader was produced in court next day bruised, battered and bleeding
Asked about the “VIP treatment” given to Barmeshwar, prison superintendent Mr Mahendra Bharti said: “Barmeshwar is behaving like a gentleman in the jail.” But he hurriedly added: “I am doing what I have been directed to do from the higher-ups.”
Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav has compared Barmeshwar with the CPI-M MLC, Mr Basudeo
Prasad, regarded as a very honest legislator. “Barmeshwar looks like Basudeo babu”, the RJD chief had said a couple of days ago.


Political observers believe Mr Laloo Yadav is trying to promote Barmeshwar, a “hero” of the Bhumihars, in politics to win them over. Bhumihars are angry with the BJP for removing Dr CP Thakur from the Union Cabinet. And, Mr Yadav may have asked the administration to “behave well” with Barmeshwar.

 

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