Bhopal jail break: Cong walks out on lapses in prison security

Opposition Congress today staged a walkout from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly alleging that Bhopal Central Jail break was the outcome of government's apathy towards security issues and monitoring of prisons.
Congress MLAs staged the walkout during the Question Hour after Shailendra Patel, MLA from Ichhawar in Sehore district, alleged that none of district administration officials inspected the Bhopal Central Jail even once during past two years in gross violation of the jail manual.
Patel said it was necessary for the district administration officials to conduct the inspection of the jail premises once in three months in accordance to jail manual.

"This has shown the apathy of the state government towards security of jail resulting in jailbreak incident by SIMI operatives on the night of Diwali last year," he alleged.
Patel also said that DIG (Jails) also did not carry out the routine inspection according to jail manual.
However in her reply to a question asked by Patel, the Minister for Jails, Kusum Singh Mehedle admitted that no inspection of Bhopal Central Jail was carried out by the District Collector or any other officer of the district administration two years prior to jailbreak incident.

On being asked to clarify, the minister reiterated that the district administration officers inspected Bhopal Central Jail on December 7 and December 22 last year.

Not satisfied with the reply, members from Opposition benches stood up and alleged that the minister has been misleading as none of officials inspected Bhopal Central Jail before the jailbreak, which took place on the night of Diwali. The official inspected jail only after this incident.
Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh said this is a serious issue of security lapse and staged a walk out along with other party MLAs.
Eight SIMI men awaiting trial had escaped from highly -fortified Bhopal Central Jail last year after killing a warder. They were subsequently neutralised in an alleged encounter with police on the same day.