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Legal circles reject prison officials’ theory of Ramkumar's suicide
Even as the demand for a judicial inquiry into the alleged suicide of P Ramkumar was getting louder from different quarters, the legal fraternity is agog that the claim of prison officials that he died after biting into a live wire remains too far-fetched.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
As per prison officials, Ramkumar was found lying unconscious with a live electric wire in his mouth near the dispensary and the claim was based on the presumption that he pulled out the wire from a switch board and bit into it.
Senior advocate N G R Prasad, said, “In such high profile cases it is the responsibility of the State to be extra cautions especially with person revealing suicidal instincts. The whole incident has lent propensity to the other side who kept saying that the police does not have a water-tight case.”
However, advocates, appearing for Ramkumar, claim that they had even spoken to him on Saturday and that he was healthy and didn’t reveal any depression.
They also claim that it was highly improbable for someone to have access to a live wire in Puzhal prison.
NHRC’s norms to prevent suicide
A look at some of the guidelines made by NHRC to prevent suicides in prison...
- Jail officials must be proficient in emergency response to such attempts.
- Identify suicidal tendencies among new inmates through interview with help of trained medical officers and psychologists.
- Install CCTVs for effective screening and monitoring.
- Provide continued mental care facilities with regular follow-up.
- Prison environment could be made less stressful by introduction of Yoga and soothing music.
- Conduct through audit of jail premises and remove objects likely to be used for committing suicide.
- Redesign cells into suicide resistant ones by replacing potential hanging and anchoring points.
TRAINING FOR OFFICIALS
- How to identify inmates with signs of suicidal tendencies
- Precautions to be taken by the staff
- Ability to identify persisting psychosomatic illness
- Basic training in medical emergency response
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