FIR registered against DIG of Prisons for reportedly engaging life convict in household work

A view of the Central Prison in Vellore. File
| Photo Credit: C. Venkatachalapathy

The Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, Vellore Range, R. Rajalakshmi; Additional Superintendent of Vellore Central Prison A. Abdul Rahman and 12 others on charges of forcing convicted prisoners to do household work in the residences of prison officials and then torturing them when valuables go missing.

The FIR has been registered on the orders passed by Justices S.M. Subramaniam and V. Sivagnanam of the Madras High Court on Thursday after Vellore Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) submitted a report stating that the charges levelled by life convict S. Sivakumar do require a detailed inquiry. The orders were passed after the convict’s mother S. Kalavathi approached the High Court through her counsel P. Pugalenthi.

In the report submitted on court orders, the CJM had said that during a personal interaction, the convict complained of having been deputed to the residence of the DIG of Prisons for performing household works. “I believe his statement to that extent bonafide,” the CJM had observed and said, such engagement, without the authorisation of Inspector General of Prisons, would be against the rules.

The magistrate highlighted that provision 447 of the Tamil Nadu Prison Manual states that ‘no convict shall be employed on any labour outside the walls of prison, or permitted to pass out of prison for the purpose of being employed, without the sanction of the IG of Prisons.’ The judicial officer said, the prison officials were unable to produce any such sanction having been granted in respect of the convict Sivakumar.

“On enquiry with the said Tiru Sivakumar it so happens years together and the convicts are being treated as slaves. It is firm that there was abuse of powers in utilising the services of convicts at the residence of DIG with slavery treatment affecting the liberty of the convicts,” the CJM had said.

The CJM was however unable to come to any conclusion with respect to the convict’s claim that he was beaten up only because of missing of ₹4.5 lakh in cash from the residence of the DIG. The judicial officer said, there appeared to be no police complaint regarding the alleged missing of cash. “But due to impact of some incident,” the convict had been kept in solitary confinement for 95 days, the judicial officer said.

“As far as tortures said to have been done by the Additional Superintendent of Central Prison, the jailer and the constables within the prison and by the DIG and her Personal Security Officer (PSO) at her residence also require a detailed inquiry and so I am not able to give my opinion at present,” the CJM’s report read forcing the High Court to order disciplinary as well as criminal action against the officials concerned.

Accordingly, the CB-CID had registered the FIR on Friday against Vellore central prison jailer Arul Kumaran, the DIG’s PSO Raju, eight male constables and two female constables apart from the DIG and the Additional Superitendent under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 which had replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) from July 1, 2024.

All 14 suspects had been booked under Sections 49 (abetment), 115(2) (causing hurt voluntarily), 118(2) (causing grievous hurt), 127(8) (wrongful confinement) and 146 (unlawful compulsory labour) of the BNS.