A medical report has confirmed the allegation of an undertrial inmate in Dasna jail of Ghaziabad that he was branded Dec 5 for not paying bribe to the jailor.
Following court instructions, the medical report submitted by the jail authorities before it confirmed the injuries described in the complaint. The doctor has further recommended X-ray of the complainant's leg.
Earlier in the complaint lodged in the court of ADJ (X) Navneet Kumar at Ghaziabad, undertrial inmate Lokesh alias Karan reported the Dec 5 incident inside the jail. He said jailor Rajesh Kumar Pandey was demanding Rs.60,000 in bribe.
Lokesh was lodged in jail Oct 11 this year, and the demand for the bribe began soon thereafter, defence lawyer Sahastra Pal Singh said.
Dec 3, the jailor snatched Rs.10,000 from Karan and got a senior inmate, Gaurav, to instruct Karan to cough up the remaining Rs.50,000 soon. Karan was told he would be "taught a lesson" Dec 4, when the jailor made a routine visit, if he was unable to arrange the money, Sahastra Pal said.
As told earlier, the jailor came and dragged Karan outside the barrack, saying: "Beta, tum jante nahin ho, main R.K. Pandey hoon (son, you don't know, I am R.K. Pandey). Now, I would brand you, so you cannot forget it your entire life."
Then, three senior inmates called 'numberdar' - Gaurav, Gyan and Anuj - and one more whom he would identify when produced before him, caught and branded him on his waist with a hot iron rod.
Four others - Prashant, Ankit, Raju and Mangal - witnessed the scene. Karan said he apprehended that he might be killed in jail.
"The file is under the order. After the injury confirmation, we have requested the court to send the inmate to a government hospital outside the jail for X-ray and further examination of the nature of injuries," Sahastra Pal said.
