Anantnag District Jail inmates shifted to KU south campus as Covid cases cross 85

Anantnag District Jail inmates shifted to KU south campus as Covid cases cross 85

Anantnag: All inmates of Anantnag District Jail have been shifted to the south campus of Kashmir University situated in the High Ground area of the main town. The number of inmates testing positive for Covid-19 had swelled to 85 and a directive by the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) termed the jail overcrowded while asking the authorities to implement ‘protocols’.
The inmates who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus include Jamiat-e-Ahl-i-Hadees Vice President Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Maqbool Bhat’s brother Zahoor Ahmad Bhat of Trehgam, Kupwara.
“Two other people, one of them a contractor at the jail, have also tested positive for the virus,” an official in the district administration said, adding that all the inmates have now been shifted from the jail to makeshift barracks at High Ground.
He said that the place was spacious and the inmates can practise social distancing there.
“There will be enough space for isolation of the positive ones,” the official said.
The decision to shift the inmates was taken a day after Principal and District Sessions Judge Parvez Ahmad Kachroo, who is also Chairman of the DLSA, passed an order directing the authorities to strictly implement Covid-19 protocols for the inmates.
“DC Anantnag/ Chairman of district disaster management authority shall ensure that the lodging of prisoners should be strictly as per Covid-19 protocols,” the order read.
The order expressed concern over the overcrowding at the jail and asked the municipal authorities to sanitise the jail premises immediately.
“This office has repeatedly taken up the matter of decongesting the overcrowded jail premises with the concerned authorities,” the order reads, adding that immediate and appropriate action to isolate the infected inmates should be taken.
Kashmir Reader tried to contact the Jail Superintendent, Syroz Ahmad, to ascertain figures and the situation on the ground, but he did not answer repeated calls nor respond to texts sent by this reporter.

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