Tamilnadu, already used to incidents of resort turning into jail and prison becoming resort, has now come across a report which revealed that AIADMK’s expelled general secretary V Sasikala had received preferential treatment in the Bengaluru Parapana Agrahara Central Jail, including specially cooked food and access to special cells. According to the report of the inquiry panel led by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar, “through the evidence, we get a clear indication of some food cooking activity in the group of five cells made available to Sasikala“. Though the report was allegedly submitted to the Karnataka government in 2017, its findings were made public only now.
It was D Roopa Moudgil, then Deputy Inspector General (DIG) (Prisons), who first exposed the favours and alleged that special treatment was given to Sasikala in Bengaluru central prison. Responding to the latest report, she said, “My report was not accepted by the government, and instead I was transferred from the post. The independent inquiry panel’s report, led by Vinay Kumar, is in line with my findings.” She added: “I stand vindicated as the panel’s report also says there were serious lapses.”
After submitting her report, Moudgil was transferred by the then Congress-led State government as the DIG Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety, Bengaluru. Now, the new report has revealed that Class-A facilities were given to Sasikala, indicating ‘lapses’. Sasikala is serving a four-year sentence since February 2017 after the Supreme Court upheld her conviction in a disproportionate assets case by a trial court in Bengaluru in September 2015. If the findings of the present report are true, severe action should be initiated against all those involved in this lapse. For, the very purpose of sending a convict to prison is for him / her to realise the mistake and reform. If s/he is provided with luxury facilities inside the jail, there is no purpose in the whole process.