KOLKATA: A Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Muzaffar Ahmed Rather, who is on death row, has been on a hunger strike for the last two days demanding a TV set and ‘good food’ in his solitary cell.
The authorities of the Dumdum Central Jail, where the 30-year-old Rather is lodged in solitary confinement, however, shifted him to the Presidency jail.
The jail authorities also claimed that the LeT militant withdrew his fast following his shifting to the Presidency Jail.
“For the last few days he has been demanding a television set and good food. Under the rules, a prisoner, who is on a death row, cannot be provided with a TV set. With regard to food, we provide quality food to all prisoners. We tried to convince him, but he was adamant,” State Correctional Department Minister Abani Mohan Joardar said.
So, he went on a hunger strike, the minister said adding, he had been since shifted to the Presidency Jail.
A jail official claimed that these were standard tricks adopted by Maoists and other dreaded criminals in a bid to pressure jail authorities to give into their demands.
Muzaffar Ahmed Rather, a resident of Anantanag in Jammu and Kashmir, and two other militants, both Pakistani citizens, were arrested by the BSF in 2007 from the India-Bangladesh border at Petrapole. (AGENCIES)
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