Guwahati, (Samajweekly) Authorities at Dibrugarh Central Jail on Friday denied claims that ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh and his associates are on a hunger strike because of the jail’s “deplorable conditions” and made it clear that the accused had requested phone access, which will now be permitted once a week.
Dibrugarh Deputy Commissioner Biswajit Pegu and SP Shwetank Mishra visited the jail on Friday after Amritpal’s wife Kirandeep Kaur claimed that her husband and some of his aides were on a hunger strike in protest against the “deplorable facilities in the jail”.
Pegu said, “There is no hunger strike in the jail. I have spoken to the NSA detainees in person. They asked for access to phone facilities and they will be permitted to make a 15-20 minutes call once a week.”
“Regarding food quality, there are no complaints, barring on one occasion,” he added.
Earlier, Kaur had claimed that she came to know about the hunger strike on Thursday when she went to the jail to see Amritpal.
Kaur had said that she makes weekly trips from Amritsar to Dibrugarh to see her husband.
According to Amritpal’s wife, she learnt that all the Sikh prisoners, including Amritpal, are on a hunger strike as they were provided unhygienic food in the jail.
She also said that the authorities forbid the inmates from speaking on the phone to their family members, which was one of the causes for their strike.
Kaur had said: “Each family member visiting the jail could save anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 if they are given the option of speaking over phone. Not all families are able to cover this cost.”
Amritpal was apprehended by the Punjab Police on April 23 from a gurdwara in Punjab’s Moga district, after he had been on the run for 35 days. Under the NSA, he was shifted to the Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam. Prior to Amritpal’s arrest, eight of his associates were brought to the Dibrugarh jail.
