Over 1000 Muslim jail inmates on hunger strike for Iftar & Sehri in WB Submitted by admin4 on 24 July 2013 - 2:40am Indian Muslim Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net, Kolkata/Berhampur: Muslim jail inmates of the Berhampur Central jail of Murshidabad, West Bengal are on hunger strike in the month of Ramadan as they are not provided Iftar and Sehri and are not allowed home food either to observe Roza (fasting). More than 1000 Muslim inmates are reported to be on hunger strike from Monday evening. To grab the attention of the local people, they reportedly threw an appeal letter, stuck to an aluminum plate outside the boundary of the jail Monday night. The letter then reached the office of the local MP of Berhampur and Union Minister Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. He then spoke to the Director General of Police (Prison) Biplab Dasgupta at Monday night itself. Although Dasgupta immediately flung into action and reached the jail, the stalemate still continues. Although Chowdhury has not made the whole content of the letter public, local sources said the inmates have argued that although in jail, being citizens of a secular country they expect freedom to observe their religious practices. There are about 1500 Muslim inmates in Berhampur Central jail, and according to unconfirmed reports, most of them are on hunger strike demanding sehri and iftar. According to reports, there is no arrangement by administration for sehri and iftar, and when some inmates tried to make their own, they were tortured. They have hence demanded from the authroties to make arrangements for sehri and iftar. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told TCN over telephone, “some one found a food plate attached with the letter near the boundary of the jail.” He added that he has talked with talked to District Magistrate of Murshidabad and he expects that the matter will be soon resolved. About 2200 inmates are currently lodged in the Berhampur Central jail, most of them are under trial and more than 80 percent are Muslims. The District Magistrate of Murshidbad, Rajib Kumar confirmed that the jail inmates are on hunger strike, and hoped that the matter will be resolved soon
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 23:33:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015