Tihar wardens injured in blade attack, officer suspended

Two wardens of the Tihar Jail in Delhi were injured when an inmate attacked them with a blade. While one was slashed on the neck, the second warden sustained injuries when he tried to stop the assailant.

An assistant superintendent of the jail has been suspended for unlocking cells at night without permission, resulting in the attack on the wardens.

The incident took place in Jail No. 5 on May 27 and was said to have been the fallout of an earlier incident in which some jail inmates were pulled out of their cells and assaulted, allegedly by jail officials.

The two wardens — Gangadhar whose neck was slashed and Basant Kumar who was injured when he went to his rescue — were first taken to the jail dispensary and then referred to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.

Police have registered a case against the inmate, Mohammed Shadab, at the Hari Nagar police station and are conducting an investigation.

Worried over the ugly atmosphere, the jail superintendent has now sought court permission to keep in fetters the inmate who attacked the wardens.

Jail sources said after a brawl between some jail officials and inmates, Deepak Kumar, assistant superintendent of Jail No. 5, opened the cells at night and ordered the inmates out. An inquiry was ordered after the matter was reported to the jail superintendent.

In his defence, Deepak Kumar said he was forced to open the cells at night because of a brawl between inmates. But the inquiry, jail sources said, did not point to a brawl in any cell. Yet some of the inmates were found to be seriously injured. Following the probe, the assistant superintendent was suspended.

In a complaint to the police, a deputy superintendent alleged that Shadab had been involved in several brawls and had attacked fellow inmates.

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