Final inquiry into Gujrat Jail riot : Punjab exonerates all suspended officials

LAHORE: Not “satisfied” with previous two inquiries which recommended major punishments, the Punjab Home Department in its third and final inquiry into the Gujrat Jail riot fallout last year has exonerated all the officials who were suspended from service and subsequently booked in a first information report (FIR) after some enraged inmates broke down their barracks, torched jail premises and beaten up officials over alleged misuse of authority, corruption and poor quality of food besides other issues.

In July last year, Punjab Chief Usman Buzdar had suspended nine Gujrat Jail officials, including its Superintendent Abdul Ghafoor Anjum and Deputy Superintendent Sarmad Hassan for 90 days, and sought a detailed inquiry report from the home department. The fact-finding commission, headed by Commandant Punjab Prisons Staff Training College Sahiwal Salik Jalal, had identified 33 jail officials and recommended initiating departmental proceedings against them. The commission also held that Abdul Ghafoor and Sarmad were hand in glove with their juniors in an “organized corruption” as ‘Roznamcha’ of prisoners revealed that Rs100 to Rs500 from each amount deposited by the relatives of inmates in their personal property accounts (PPAs) was being deducted on ‘regular basis’.

The commandant also recommended transfer of at least 12 death row inmates to other prisons “in the best interest of the jail administration”. According to the commission’s findings, a copy of which is available with Business Recorder, the record of PCO register and statements of prisoners revealed that only “blue-eyed” inmates having capacity to pay Rs 15,000 per month are allowed to call on mobile numbers while all the other prisoners who deny giving money were only being allowed to call on PTCL numbers.

“The state of corruption was at its peak as during the inquiry proceedings a prisoner namely Babar Ali recorded his statement on the spot saying when he went inside the PCO booth, the PCO operator demanded Rs 1,000 for that call even in the presence of the inquiry officer inside the jail,” Salik said. He concluded that “corruption, intimidation, use of narcotics and extortion of money from inmates was rampant beyond any shadow of doubt”.

However, DIG Inspection Tariq Mehmood Khan Babur during the regular inquiry recommended major punishment against seven senior officers out of the total 32. The inquiry report, a copy of which is available with Business Recorder, recommended forfeiture of five years of service of Abdul Ghafoor Anjum and three years of Sarmad Hassan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021