Hyderabad: Hyderabad won’t have a single prison if the government shifts the Chanchalguda Central Prison and the Special Prison for Women to Cherlapally.
There have been prisons in the city for centuries. Kancharla Gopanna (Ramadasu) was lodged in the jail in Golconda Fort. During the Nizams’ rule, each district in Hyderabad state had at least a sub-jail.
This was followed later in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and all districts in Telangana had at least a sub-jail.
The Chanchalguda Central Prison is meant for the Hyderabad jurisdiction while the Chanchalguda Special Prison for Women is for all women prisoners across the state. The Cherlapally prison is for Ranga Reddy district.
Speaking at a “meet the press” on Thursday, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had clarified that the Chanchalguda Jail land would be utilised for other purposes and the prison would be shifted to Cherlapally where the Prisons Department has about 120 acre of land.
If the Hyderabad central prison is shifted, the Prisons department and security personnel will face many difficulties while shifting prisoners to various courts in Nampally.
Although the Prisons department has adopted video conferencing instead of sending prisoners to courts, this is only permitted for remand extensions for undertrial prisoners.
At present around 20 undertrial prisoners are being prosecuted over video conferencing from Chanchalguda jail every day.
In Cherlapally Central Prison, it is done only on Saturdays for the Saroornagar court, which deals with about 100 prisoners.
Retired additional DCP B. Reddanna told DC that the shifting process from Cherlapally to Nampally might take more time than shifting from Chanchalguda.
“If there is a delay in a prisoner reaching the court, the trail will be adjourned which ultimately results in lengthy prosecution time. If an accused is not produced before court on time, there will be no value for witnesses. Thus the witnesses will also suffer,” he said.
Apart from prosecution, Mr Reddanna said there could also be a threat to prisoners while shifting from Cherlapally to Nampally.
“We have an average speed in the city of 14 km per hour. The delay in shifting prisoners in heavy traffic may lead to getting late for trials apart from security problems,” he said.
Also, shifting of prisoners during medical emergencies from Cherlapally to the Osmania General Hospital or Gandhi Hospital might cost lives, he added.
