Punjab to set up court rooms inside jails

The Punjab government will set up court rooms inside high-security prisons to restrict movement of "dangerous" criminals and gangsters for hearings, Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said Wednesday.

He also said the jails department will purchase tear gas shells and rubber bullets as part of its measures to strengthen prison security.

The government has been under fire from opposition parties over the killing of an inmate in Nabha jail and outbreak of violence at the Ludhiana jail.

"The state government has decided to set up court rooms in seven high-security jails to restrict the movement of dangerous criminals and gangsters who are to be taken for legal hearings, Randhawa said told reporters here.

The court rooms will be set up at jails in Patiala, Kapurthala, Amritsar, Bathinda, Faridkot, Sangrur and Nabha, the minister said.

The notification for the same has already been issued, and to begin with, such courts will function once a week , he said.

In June, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, whowas a key accused in a four-year-old sacrilege case in Bargari,was killed in Nabha prison in Patiala by two inmates, while in the same month, violence broke out in the Ludhiana central jail and one inmate was killed and 35 injured.

Randhawa said that to plug the shortage of 1,500 employees in the jails, 750 have been recruited and more 450 employees will be hired.