The Delhi Police will meet its Punjab counterpart on Friday to discuss a security plan for the meeting of Chief Ministers Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal in Tihar jail, who were expected to meet on Wednesday but could not as authorities cited ‘security reasons’. Meanwhile, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged that he and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann wanted to meet Kejriwal in jail but the meeting was cancelled by the prison authorities, even though a token number had been issued for it.
“Prison Department, Delhi has fixed an advance security liaison meeting with Addl. Director General (Police), Punjab, Delhi Police and Tihar Administration on 12.04.2024 at 11 am in the office of Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) at Tihar Prison Headquarters, Delhi,” a press statement issued by the jail authorities said.
“It is for making security arrangements and completion of codal formalities, as mandated in Delhi Prison Rules, to arrange a meeting of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Punjab with Arvind Kejriwal currently lodged in Tihar Jail,” the prison authorities said.
Earlier, when Mann wrote to the administration about meeting Kejriwal, the jail authorities said he can meet his Delhi counterpart, but as a normal visitor in the ‘mulakat jangla’, which is an iron mesh which separates the inmate from the visitor in a room inside the jail. A visitor and an inmate can talk to each other by sitting on different sides of the mesh.
“Mann can meet Kejriwal but it can happen as a normal visitor meet in the ‘mulakat jangla’ in Tihar jail. The officials can make security arrangements as Mann is a chief minister and enjoys Z+ security cover,” an officer said.
Addressing a press conference, Singh claimed that an inquiry has been launched into Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sending messages to his MLAs through his lawyers from Tihar jail.
After Kejriwal sent a message to AAP MLAs asking them to visit their constituencies and solve people’s problems, a “threat was issued” that his meetings with his lawyers and family members would be stopped, Singh claimed at a press conference without naming anyone.
Hitting at the Centre, Singh asserted that the government is behaving like Hitler and said, “Arvind Kejriwal, popularly elected with a resounding majority three times, is being held by the Modi government in jail through its Hitleresque means. They (Modi Government) want to impose Hitler rules on him. They want to turn Tihar Jail in Delhi into Hitler’s gas chamber. PM Modi is curtailing CM Arvind Kejriwal rights, which are even provided to the most dreaded criminals in jail.” He said that while the CM gave a message to the AAP MLAs through legal channels, ‘urging them to engage with the people, hear their grievances, and seek solutions’, a threat was issued that his meetings with his lawyers and family members would be stopped.
The MP alleged that he and Mann wanted to meet Kejriwal in jail but the meeting was cancelled by the prison authorities. “It’s clear that the jail authorities are not acting on their own, but under pressure from the Modi government. The CM of Punjab and a MP from Delhi wanted to meet the thrice-elected CM in a usual manner. Initially, the jail administration allocated us a token number, stating that we would meet Arvind Kejriwal on today’s date, then the meeting was cancelled.” he alleged.
The AAP leader also claimed that 8 to 10 policemen surrounded Kejriwal from all sides during his legal meeting with his lawyers in jail, which is against the rules of no one overhearing the prisoner’s conversation with his lawyer. “Does Modi ji want to turn Delhi’s Tihar Jail into Hitler’s gas chamber? Do you want to turn Delhi’s jail into a place of torture?” Singh said, adding that the Modi government is punishing Arvind Kejriwal for providing free amenities to Delhiites.
Kejriwal has given five names including his wife, two children, his personal secretary Bibhav Kumar and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak whom he can meet in the jail. An official said that Kejriwal will have to add one more name of Mann in the list of visitors.
According to the jail manual, an inmate can give 10 names of visitors. Three of them can meet at one time, twice a week. On April 2, the AAP supremo talked to wife and children via video conference from the prisons. He has been meeting his lawyer daily in the jail.
