Justice Tashi visits School for Sightless Girls, Central Jail KotBhalwal, Jammu

JAMMU, MAY 19: Justice Tashi Rabstan, Judge, High Court of J&K and Ladakh and Executive Chairman, J&K Legal Services Authority accompanied by Sanjay Parihar, Principal District & Sessions Judge (Chairman, DLSA) Jammu, Amit Kumar Gupta, Member Secretary, J&K Legal Services Authority, Prem Sagar, Secretary, HCLSC, Smriti Sharma , Secretary, DLSA Jammu, Kulbir Handa, SP City visited Louis Braille Memorial School for Sightless Girls, Roopnagar, Jammu where Justice Tashi was accorded warm welcome by Nivedita Shukla, Overall Incharge, Radika Chopra, Warden and other staff members of the school.

Justice Tashi Rabstan had a detailed interaction with the staff and the girls residing in the school. The incharge of the school informed Justice Tashi that the school was being run by an NGO at Jammu since 1991 and initially the same was located at Amphalla and subsequently it was shifted to the present location after the Jammu Development Authority provided 2 Kanals of land for the said school. It was further informed that the school was having a capacity of 50 children but presently 23 girls hailing from various districts of Jammu province were residing therein. The warden also informed Justice Tashi that recently the girls of the said school participated in a Judo competition held at Hyderabad and won the Junior and Sub-Junior titles.

On this occasion, the girls of the school also presented solo and group cultural items which were highly appreciated by the dignitaries. The incharge of the school requested Justice Tashi to impress upon the PDD Department to exempt the school from payment of electricity bill as the same is a Social and Non-Profit organization. On this occasion, SP City, promised to donate a fully automatic washing machine to the school. He also assured to arrange an outing (Picnic) for the inmates of the school.

Later, Justice Tashi Rabstan visited the Central Jail, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu, where he was received by Superintendent Jail, SP Rural, SHO Gharota, Anil Sharma, Chief LADC Jammu and other officers/officials of Police and CRPF.

The Executive Chairman, J&K LSA enquired about the number of convicts serving their sentences and also about the undertrial prisoners belonging to UT of J&K as well as other States and foreign nationals, upon which the Justice Tashi was informed that there are579 Undertrials, 353 Detenues and 67 Convicts in the jail. However, there were 17 foreign nationals but no female inmate was lodged in the jail.

The Superintendent jail also informed Justice Tashi that the Central Jail, KotBhalwal, Jammu has a capacity of 903 persons, whereas, presently 999 inmates are residing in the jail. He further informed that out of the sanctioned strength of the staff he is managing the affairs of the jail with quite a lessnumber.

Justice Tashi inspected the barracks, dining and kitchen area, e-mulakatcenter, VC facility, 10 bedded hospital, vocational centers, STD facility andMini stadium.All the inmates of the jail during interaction admitted that they are being served proper diet by the jail staff and are being represented in their respective cases by the lawyers either engaged by them or provided by Legal Services Authority.

Justice Tashi Rabstan also visited the newly installed inhouse bakery in the jail which as per Superintendent would be made operational very soon. During visit to the library, Justice Tashi was introduced to the two teachers deputed by Education Department who informed the Executive Chairman that 25 jail inmates were appearing in graduation course exams through distance mode and 87 were undergoing certificate courses.

The medical officer present in the jail informed Justice Tashi that out of the 04 sanctioned posts, 03 Medical Officers are posted who are available round the clock, whereas, one post was lying vacant. She also informed that an X-Ray technician is posted in the jail, whereas, no X-Ray machine was installed. She further informed that the dental setup was established but no dental surgeon is posted and also there is no facility for eye checkup, so the jail inmates have to be refereed to dental hospital and Govt. Medical College for dental and eye treatment. The Jail Superintendent informed that the jail is also equipped with surveillance cameras and restrictions on mobile networks within the jail premises.

Justice Tashi also inspected the Legal Aid Clinic established in the jail where 02 PLVs namely Darshan Lal and Gaurav Sharma were present, who expressed gratitude to the Executive Chairman for increasing the number of working days from 10 to 20 days in a month.

Justice Tashi recorded satisfaction regarding the facilities provided to the jail inmates and also urged the PLVs to work with dedication and ensure that the benefits of schemes launched for welfare of jail inmates reaches to them.