New Delhi: A special court in Mumbai on Tuesday, November 15, directed the deputy inspector general (DIG, Prisons) of police to look into the mosquito menace in Taloja prison.
The court’s directions came after an application filed by civil rights activist and accused in the Elgar Parishad case, Anand Teltumbde, said that the jail superintendent has not complied with previous orders to take precautions to control the mosquito situation, Free Press Journal reported.
The plea also pointed out that the court had on November 7 given an ultimatum to the jail superintendent to be personally present for the hearing on Tuesday, the report said.
Teltumbde’s plea seeking mosquito nets had said, “Taloja central jail is infested with mosquitoes and the mosquito repellent ointments and incense sticks are hardly of any use. The applicant has been suffering from mosquito bites despite using ointments.”
The issue of mosquito nets for the undertrials in Taloja jail came up in May.
Human rights activist Gautam Navlakha – an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, who is now under house arrest – had approached the court seeking a mosquito net as the net he was using was taken away by the prison authorities.
Several undertrials from the Taloja prison have filed similar applications. However, the request for some were accepted, while for others were rejected.
The prison officials had confiscated the mosquito nets being used by undertrials citing security concerns. They said that mosquito nets make it difficult for them to look inside the barracks during the night. Moreover, ropes and nails, which are used to tie the nets, can be used by the undertrials to harm themselves and others, the Indian Express reported.
Earlier this month, an undertrial brought a plastic bottle filled with dead mosquitoes to the sessions court to highlight the problem of mosquito menace in the jail.
The court rejected his plea saying he could use Odomos and other mosquito repellents.