Soumittra S Bose,TNN | Feb 8, 2014, 07.16 AM IST

justice kolse patil

NAGPUR: Urging Nagpur Central jail inmates to end their indefinite hunger strike, former High Court justice BG Kolse Patil on Friday told them that their efforts won’t be able to move the government which would rather prefer to let the protesters die rather than heed their demands. He said that there are no takers for common citizens’ grievances.The inmates have been on indefinite hunger strike for the last one week demanding speedy trial and bail.

Kolse Patil stated that AAP party supremo and Delhi chief ministerArvind Kejriwal gets media attention as his protests are orchestrated ones with government playing key motivator to his anarchism. “The inmates were arguing that death while observing hunger strike was better than life behind bars. We convinced them that their protest would neither be highlighted like Kejriwal’s by media nor government would feel sympathetic towards their issues,” said Kolse Patil, who was accompanied by Advocates Anil Kale and Surendra Gadling.

“It is the court that should take action into the allegations of retaining inmates longer than such periods of the punishment under section in which they were held accused. The court should finish trials within short periods in trivial matters,” said the retired judge.

Advocate Kale informed that the hunger strike to demand speedy trial, rejecting videoconference and bail for undertrials had began with 171 inmates, including around 32 Naxalites, participating in the protest on January 30 last month. The senior counsel, who claimed that inmates were reluctant to withdraw the stir, stated there were 71 inmates on hunger strike when the protest was made to call off.

Kolse Patil lambasted the central jail authorities stating that they had pressurized the inmates to withdraw stir and undertook different tactics to divide them. “The inmates were forced to sign the undertaking. The condition in which the jail inmates are being made to stay and ignorance meted out to them tantamount to outright trampling of their human rights,” said the senior judge, who was part of the fact-finding team that probed the Nanded blast which is associated with saffron terrorism. Kolse Patil was also part of the fact-finding team that investigated the Kandhamal riots.

Accused the government of bias, Kolse Patil said that there are more Dalits and Muslims in the jail as compared to other communities. “If Aseemananda had named any Dalit or Muslim in connection with blasts then he would have been in jail by now,” said Kolse Patil, referring to the statement made by the seer connecting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to Samjhauta Express and Mecca Masjid blasts.

Kolse Patil stressed the fact that Supreme Court had earlier passed several judgments on the rights of undertrials to bail. “The apex court had issued direction in its earlier judgments regarding rights of undertrials, but no government seems to be keen to implement it,” he said, adding that representations made on the issues of jail inmates shall be forwarded to the concerned departments.

Read more here – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Jail-inmates-are-no-Kejri-says-justice-Kolse-Patil/articleshow/30027658.cms?

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