Provide ambulances to all major prisons: JKSHRC to state govt

The Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (JKSHRC) today directed the state government to provide ambulances in all major jails for shifting of inmates to hospitals in cases of emergency.
The commission passed the order after hearing the plight of a woman who claimed that her husband died in custody as he could not be taken to a hospital in time.
"It is directed that all major jails in the state be provided ambulances with escort on a permanent basis and this process shall be completed within a period of six months," SHRC chairman Justice (retd) Bilal Nazki said in an order issued today.

Nazki said the smaller jails can utilise the services of ambulances given to major jails when required.
The SHRC was hearing a petition filed by the widow of Mukhtar Ahmad Bhat, who died in custody in February 2014. The woman had claimed that her husband had died as he was not shifted to a hospital in time for treatment. Bhat was suffering from acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis, she said.