 |
| Purnea Central Jail. Telegraph picture |
Purnea, Feb. 3: Prisoners of Purnea Central Jail went on a hunger strike today demanding good quality food.
The inmates of the jail threatened to continue with their strike till the jail administration accepted their demand.
Navlesh Pathak, an accused in the murder of BJP MLA Rajkishore Keshari, wrote a letter (a copy of which is with The Telegraph) to the media saying that he had not taken proper meal for the past 25 days because the jail administration served stale food. According to the letter, he had no other option other than to go on a hunger strike.
Awadhesh Mandal, accused of assaulting his wife Bima Bharti a JD (U) legislator and lodged in the same jail, said he was on a hunger strike because the prisoners were not served proper meal.
Sources in the jail administration said a drama had started in the jail last night when Mandal returned from the court in an inebriated state and started giving slogans.
“Mandal provoked other prisoners and shouted slogans. There was no strike on the jail premises. We cannot give any special treatment to anyone irrespective whether he is Awadhesh or Navlesh. This is not possible for us because we go by the jail manual,” said N. Saravana the district magistrate.
He added: “As far as poor quality food is concerned, all meals are prepared at one place for everyone. How can one cannot eat it when others can?”
After getting information of the strike, Saravana directed the subdivisional officer, Kundan Kumar, to look into the matter. He reported that there was no strike in the jail. Only Pathak had not taken meal and wanted special food. He also said that no other prisoner complained of poor quality meal.