Ishrat Jahan alleges harassment by jail inmates in court hearing

New delhi: Former Congress counsillor and UAPA accused Ishrat Jahan on Tuesday alleged before a Delhi court that she has been facing 'physical and verbal harassment" and "regular beatings" at the hands of fellow inmates inside jail due to which she is "under immense stress".

Jahan, before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat, claimed: "This is the second incident in a month…in the morning the inmates beat me badly and verbally abused me. One of the inmates also slit her hand to punish me on a false complaint…they keep calling me a terrorist". Jahan also alleged that "she has been facing harassment inside jail for the past four months" and had her request to shift to Tihar prison turned down due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Advocate Pradeep Teotia, appearing for Jahan, alleged that she had been beaten up inside the jail on previous occasions too "following which one of the inmates was shifted to another jail". "The ladies inside her cell objected to her offering morning prayers and started abusing and beating her," the counsel submitted.

"She (Jahan) has mentioned the name of one lady Pooja and Gulshan and it is stated that she is a lesbian and her activities are very obnoxious," the court noted in its order.

"She (Jahan) seems to be in a state of utter fear. Please talk to her immediately and understand the situation," ASJ Rawat said while directing the Jail Superintendent to file a detailed reply by December 23 (today) regarding the allegations and "steps being taken by them to allay the fear of the accused and further steps that are needed and which they are going to take in this regard, if any".

Meanwhile, Advocate Rizwan, representing former Aam Aadmi Party counsillor and main accused Tahir Hussain, told the court that several of the accused in the "larger conspiracy" case have been "facing discrimination" at the hands of inmates or prison authorities.

"They have been declared terrorists before the completion of the trial and jail authorities behave adversely with them…the conspiracy case required proper monitoring by court...," he stated. Accused Jamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha also told the court that he had been called a "terrorist" inside jail on multiple occasions.

The matter will now be heard on January 5.