Lok adalat leads to heartburns

Salem: The lok adalat, conducted at Salem prison, witnessed high drama on Sunday. Among the 416 prisoners released, only two were remand prisoners who had been behind bars for several months. The rest had been on remand for the last three days. Social activists here complained that the lok adalat was “just an eyewash” and several remand prisoners, languishing in jail for years, had not been considered.

Release of remand prisoners through the lok adalat was done following a direction from the Supreme Court: it said prisoners who had already spent half their maximum possible term in jail should be released. Prison sources said only two thieves, Prakash and Selvam, were released to satisfy the SC order. “The rest of the 414 prisoners released had been in jail for only three days. There are hundreds of others languishing in jail for years on petty charges,” they said, adding that 441 people were arrested in the last three days across the district.

Advocate and campaigner for prisoners’ rights Henri Tiphagne said many prisoners who could be released with small fines and shopkeepers who were arrested for encroaching on pavements were released through the lok adalat. “The purpose of the lok adalat was to release prisoners who had spent several years without facing trial.The number of arrests and the persons released on Sunday show how shabbily the lok adalat was conducted,” he said. Salem police commissioner A. Amalraj insisted that the lok adalat was conducted in a fair manner. “We took efforts to not only release persons who were arrested recently but also others who had been held without trial for a long time,” he said.