Jail warden dies in Tihar; 7th victim in 8 days

New Delhi, Jun 13: After inmates it was the turn of officials at the Tihar Jail here to face the brunt of inhospitable living conditions at the Asia's largest prison with a jail warden dying this morning to take the death toll to seven in the last eight days.

In the seventh death at the prison since last Wednesday, a Jail Warden died this afternoon due to dehydration, said Tihar spokesman Ajay Bhatia.

''Man Singh (50), posted in Jail No 4, died this morning at about 0900 hrs at the Deendayal Upadhyay Hospital.'' Singh had been keeping unwell for quite sometime and undergoing treatment at the hospital, where he died this morning, he added.

Yesterday itself, two inmates of Tihar had died reportedly due to heat wave conditions aggravated by overcrowding and lack of proper amenities.

Prior to that, four others had died in the last six days, taking the total toll at Tihar to seven since June 6 last.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court, taking suo moto cognisance of the deaths, today issued notices to the Delhi Government and Superintendent Central Jail seeking reply by tomorrow on the cause of the several deaths at the Tihar Jail in the last few days.

The Delhi government on its part also ordered a judicial enquiry into the death, the repors of which would be submitted by June 25.

Besides this, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has decided to send a delegation to the Tihar Jail tomorrow for a 'spot report'.

The delegation, led by NHRC Investigating Division SSP Mamta Singh, will submit its report within two weeks.

UNI

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