Bhind (Madhya Pradesh): Bhind, must probably, the only district headquarters in the state that doesnít have a jail. And this is not because Bhind has become free from criminals. The problem is that there is no building in the town to house the prisoners.
A wall of the dilapidated building of the jail had collapsed last year, following which all the inmates were shifted to Gwalior jail. Since then, undertrials are brought from Gwalior every day to attend court hearings - and this when the Chambal region, of which Bhind is a part, is known for its dreaded outlaws.
Interestingly, the construction of new building for the district jail, started in 2008, is yet to be completed. Meanwhile, the cost of the project has escalated from Rs 15 crore to Rs 35 crore.
A wall of the old building of Bhind district jail had collapsed on July 31, 2022, injuring 21 inmates.††At the time, the jail was holding 255 prisoners who were later shifted to Gwalior jail. Since then, Bhind is sans jail.
The accused remanded to judicial custody by the courts in Bhind are taken either to sub-jails in Lahar, Gohad or Mehgaon or to Gwalior jail. Similarly, undertrials are brought to Bhind to attend their court hearings.
Needless to say, this is translating into huge expenses, besides inconveniencing the undetrials and the cops accompanying them. Gwalior is about 77 km from Bhind and it takes more two hours to cover the distance.
This has also led to extreme over-crowding in sub-jails in Bhind district. "They have become like Kanji Houses," a senior jail department officer told Free Press. "The local police are a harassed lot and so are the district collector and district judge. But Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of PWD is unconcerned," he said.
Jails in MP
Three†district jails are under-construction in the state. The construction of Indore district jail is on since 2004, of Bhind since 2008 and of Chhindwara since 2019.
Many jails are under construction. From time to time, we send reminders to the PIU to hasten the construction work - Arvind Kumar, DG, Prisons
