After 20 years in jail, man asks for re-imprisonment

A person, who has spent 20 years in jail, has asked the administration to imprison him again due to lack of resources and no place to live.

Pushkar Dutt Bhatt was in jail for the murder of his wife and daughter when his village Batasdi was devastated in July 2016 cloudburst in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. He has no place to live as he lost his house in the calamity.

He said his village showed no sign of inhabitation even after two years of the disaster and ghosts only lived there.

"I have several times requested the administration to look into the matter. I have been waiting for a house for past six months, but to no avail. I have now given an application to the administration to either help the village inhabit again or send me back to jail," Bhatt told ANI.

"I fear for my life here. I was better placed in the prison where I was provided security and food. I will be forced to commit suicide if the administration doesn't help me," he said.

Locals said none of his family members survived the disaster. "He is all alone now. Locals take care of his basic necessities such as food and shelter.

"We have requested the administration to provide him with the only house spared in the village," another local Shankar Dutt Bhatt said.

According to Pithoragarh District Magistrate C. Ravishankar, the villagers were inhabited and given land at other places after the disaster, but Bhatt was in jail during that time.

"His re-inhabitation process is ongoing," he said.