‘Shakes My Judicial Conscience’: Delhi High Court Questions Tihar Jail Authorities Over Gangster Tillu Tajpuriya's Murder Inside Prison

The Delhi High Court on Thursday questioned Tihar Jail authorities over the murder of Gangster Tillu Tajpuriya inside the jail premises and lack of steps to prevent the same in time.

The 33-year-old was recently stabbed to death allegedly by members of a rival gang inside Tihar prison. The incident was captured in the CCTV cameras installed inside the jail.

“What bothers me is that it is being watched on CCTV cameras. How can the police take so much time that it [incident] can’t be stopped while the incident is taking place?”, Justice Jasmeet Singh asked ASC Rahul Tyagi representing the State.

The court also asked Tyagi if the policemen inside the jail can be armed to ensure safety of the prisoners. The ASC thus submitted:

“The rationale is that there are about 20,000 inmates house in the jail. It is against the jail manual to carry any arms inside jail premises. Now we are making a QRT, we are going to arm them. We have to take of it. I know this is a brutal incident but our reaction should not be immediate. Let’s take a cool and calculative decision… Hard cases make bad laws. It should not get into a knee jerk reaction.”

However, Justice Singh said: “This is not acceptable. It is not about knee jerk reaction…The reaction has to commensurate with the offence, no? Does it commensurate with the offence?”

Tyagi then assured the court that all inmates involved in the incident have been arrested and that similar action will be taken against any other person who is present outside the jail. As far as jail management is concerned, these are tricky situations, he said.

On court’s query if the policemen are equipped with walkie-talkie devices, Tyagi answered in negative. He said: “The surveillance area is 600 meters away from jail. So every time the person will have to go from surveillance area to the jail which is 600 meters away.”

However, Justice Singh said:

“Why do we have to wait for an incident to happen and then we say that hard cases make bad laws and knee jerk reaction? How is it fair? Think about it from a rational person’s point of view. You have prison which is 600 meters away from the surveillance. The idea of surveillance is to see movement of prisoners. The moment an incident is taking place, at best the officer will run [towards jail]. He does not have a walkie talkie. It is unacceptable. Something that you’ve to find out.”

As Tyagi said that the authorities are taking steps to immediately change the system in jail, the court added:

“We should not have to wait for an incident to evoke a response. Look at the recovery that you made from surprise checks. Does it not show the potential of such incidents?”

Tyagi then said that the knives recovered from the inmates were prepared by them from materials like fan from inside the jail and nothing from the outside. Justice Singh then replied: “It shakes my judicial conscience.”

Earlier, the court saw the CCTV footage of the incident and said that it was seen that Tajpuriya was taken out of his cell and was stabbed to death. Justice Singh had said the court was “unable to comprehend” why no steps were taken by authorities if the entire incident was captured by the CCTV camera.

The court was hearing a plea moved by Tajpuriya’s father and brother seeking CBI probe in the murder and also protection to them.

Title: JAGPAL SINGH & ANR. v. STATE (GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI) AND ORS.