Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court has sharply criticised the state government and jail authorities over their response to a viral video showing undertrial prisoners accused in liquor and GST scam cases dancing inside Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail.
Calling the affidavit filed by the government incomplete and unsatisfactory, the court observed that suspending only lower-level staff cannot be treated as sufficient action in a matter of such seriousness.
A division bench led by the Chief Justice, while hearing the case taken up suo motu on Tuesday, questioned why responsibility had not been fixed on senior officials, particularly the Jail Superintendent and the Inspector General of Prisons.
The bench noted that the presence of mobile phones and internet access inside a high-security prison poses a serious threat not only to the jail system but also to the broader judicial and security framework. It emphasised that such incidents point to systemic failure and require accountability at the highest level.
The High Court directed the state government to submit a supplementary affidavit within two weeks. The report must specify whether mobile jammers were functional at the time of the incident, identify individuals seen in CCTV footage, and clarify whether any jail staff or external persons involved in facilitating the incident have been identified.
The court also sought details of a concrete and foolproof action plan formulated by the jail administration to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.
In an earlier hearing, the court had termed the episode “shameful” and strongly criticised the grave negligence of the jail authorities. It had clearly directed that mobile phones, chargers, and narcotics must not reach inmates under any circumstances and had asked the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority (JHALSA) and the police to conduct surprise inspections of prisons across the state.
The state government had earlier informed the court that the jailer and another staff member were suspended following the circulation of the video.
With inputs from IANS