Forced to strip in Tiruchy jail, say student-protesters

Tiruchy: Prison authorities in Tiruchy faced acute open embarrassment on Saturday as two girl students of a Coimbatore-based college, charged them with “torturing and humiliating them” and violating human rights during their stay in the Central jail in Tiruchirappalli.

The two girls, Ms. Valarmathi and Ms. Swathi, were recently arrested with few other students at Kulithalai near Karur while on their way to Neduvasal in Pudukkottai district to participate in the protests against exploration of natural gas there on April 15.

Valarmathi, who came out on bail on Saturday, quickly got into a protest mode outside the prison premises here, alleging they were "tortured" by women prison staffers when they had been lodged in a separate cell inside.

The girl student told media persons near the prison on being released on bail, that she had commenced an indefinite fast on May 16, supported by other women prisoners, against the treatment meted out to them. Following an amicable settlement reached between the inmates and the prison authorities, they had called off their agitation on Friday, she said.

Raising slogans against the prison authorities, Valarmathi also charged that she was forcibly asked to "remove her dress" and was put under examination when they had complained about the poor quality of food inside the prison.

A woman DIG of Prisons had allegedly ordered that they be placed in a special cell, when some lower level women jail officials allegedly attacked her (Valarmathi) severely and had threatened that "she would be included in the lists of Maoists," the girl student charged.

Stating that human rights violations against prison inmates were going on daily and repeating the charge that they were asked to strip inside the jail, Ms. Valarmathi urged the State government to institute a judicial inquiry into the human rights violations against the prisoners and action against the jail officials responsible for such acts.