Shift political prisoners to Kannur jail: HC

Kochi, Oct 10 (UNI) The Kerala High Court today directed the state police to shift all political prisoners from the Viyyur central jail in Thrissur to the Kannur central jail.

A division bench comprising Justices J B Koshy and Padmanabhan Nair also posted the case to November 28 for disposal.

Earlier, Director General of Police (Prisons) M G A Raman submitted before the court that jail officials were ''scared'' of working in the Kannur prison.

The DGP submitted this while the court was hearing a suo moto case, initiated by it with regard to indiscriminate parole being granted in various jails.

The court had earlier directed the superintendent of the Kannur central prison K P Laser to appear before the court for filing a false statement. Appearing before the court today, he submitted that the statement contained false information due to a mistake.

The DGP (Prison) present in the court submitted that in 2003, when a prisoner was murdered in the Kannur jail, all political prisoners were shifted to the Thriuvananthapuram and Viyyur central jails.

However, when Mr Oommen Chandy became the Chief Minister, he directed the shifting of political prisoners from the Viyyur central jail to the Kannur jail. This again created problems, the DGP submitted.

UNI