VARINDER BHATIA : Chandigarh, Wed Apr 04 2012, 01:42 hrs
Balwant Singh Rajoana was on
Tuesday taken out of solitary confinement and allowed to meet with other
convicts in Patiala jail following orders from the office of Inspector General
(Prisons) Jagjit Singh.
Rajoana had been locked in a condemned cell since
his conviction in July 2007 in the assassination of former chief minister Beant
Singh.
“We have issued instructions to the Patiala Jail
Superintendent to move Balwant Singh Rajoana out of the solitary confinement
cell,” said Inspector General Prisons Jagjit Singh.
“He shall be allowed to meet other convicts and
interact with them during daytime from today, till his mercy petition is
decided. Various other restrictions have also been revoked,”he said.
A Chandigarh-based advocate, Navkiran Singh, had
filed a PIL in Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2010, apprising it of a 1979
Supreme Court judgment, pertaining to solitary confinement.
In response to the PIL, the governments of Punjab
and Haryana had told the court that they shall abide by the SC’s directions and
take all convicts, whose mercy petitions were pending with the President, out
of solitary confinement cells.
“Till date, Rajoana was under the constant
supervision of jail warders. According to the rules, jail staff were
designated, in shifts, to keep an eye on him round the clock even while he was
sleeping. His food was prepared separately and checked before being served. He
was not allowed to interact with anybody, unless permitted by the jail authorities.
Rajoana’s family members were allowed to meet him in his cell. Even his clothes
were to be approved by the jail authorities. All such restrictions shall not be
on Rajoana, from today onwards,” the IG said.
“From our side, there shall be no restriction on
his interaction with other convicts, or movement inside the jail premises,
since he is not a condemned prisoner now, in wake of the pendency of his mercy
petition,” he said.
