In a fresh development in the Chitrakoot shootout case, the National Human Rights Commission has asked Uttar Pradesh’s Director General of Police, the District Magistrate, and Superintendent of Police of Chitrakoot, and Chitrakoot Jail Superintendent through Deputy Inspector General of Prison to submit an Action Taken Report. The NHRC, taking cognizance of the incident, has ordered the detailed report to be submitted within 10 weeks along with other relevant documents. The NHRC has also asked the State Human Rights Commission, Uttar Pradesh, through its Secretary to inform the date of cognizance, if any, taken by them in this matter.
NHRC to DGP Uttar Pradesh, DM, SP & Chitrakoot prison authorities: Submit action taken report in the Chitrakoot jail shootout incident resulting in three deaths. For details, see press release: https://t.co/EVfoDayj61#CustodialDeath@CMOfficeUP @dgpup@ANI @PTI_News @PIB_India
— NHRC India (@India_NHRC) May 18, 2021
In a curious turn of events, on 14th May, three inmates of the Chitrakoot jail including gangster Mukim Kala were killed when a shootout ensued in the prison premises. Allegedly, after a jail staff arrived to placate an argument that had broken out between some of the prisoners, inmate Anshu Dixit snatched his service revolver and shot down two other inmates. Further on, the Chitrakoot DM and SP were called in when Dixit captured five other prisoners and took them hostage. The police finally had to shoot at Dixit when he refused to surrender and opened fire at the police officials, the jail authorities had said. Notably, Mukhtar Ansari’s aide Mirajuddin was among the three killed in the firing.
After an initial departmental probe, two jail officials, Superintendent SP Tripathi and Jailor Mahendra Pal were sacked by the UP government. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath had also sought a report on the incident from Director General of Prison, Anand Kumar. A three-member team consisting of, Chitrakoot Dham Commissioner D K Singh, Inspector General of Chitrakoot Range K Satya Narayan, and DIG of Prison Sanjeev Tripathi, had been directed to conduct an inquiry and submit the report. Later on, three warders, Sanjay Khare, Harishankar Ram, and Amit Kumar, were also fired on charges of laxity after it was found that the CCTV cameras of the jail were not functional at the time of the shooting.
Interestingly, an old video of Anshu Dixit had resurfaced in which he was seen describing the plans of the jail authorities to get him killed, leading to claims that the gang war was indeed staged. Fuelling those claims, it has also been noted that Mukim Kala was shifted to Chitrakoot jail from Saharanpur just five days before the incident while Mirajuddin was shifted from Varanasi to Chitrakoot Jail on the 20th of March.
Amid this chaos, while the NHRC’s move has earned a lot of appreciation on social media platforms, many have also accused the body of being partial in recognizing violations of human rights in other states.
Notably, Mukim Kala, who hailed from Shamli, had 61 criminal cases against him, including charges of murder and dacoity. Hailing from Ghazipur, Mirajuddin had 14 cases against him on charges of murder, forgery, and others under the Arms Act and was a sidekick of politician turned gangster Mukhtar Ansari. On the other hand, Anshu Dixit was a native of Sitapur and had eight cases against him including an attempt to murder and extortion.
After all, this, whether Dixit’s allegations are true or the jail authority’s version of the story is to be believed remains a question. Was the shootout a result of a gang war? Was it a ploy of the police to get rid of the three criminals? Or was it all a sham, put up by members of the gang who are still out of the police’s clutches, to divert the attention of authorities from something bigger? The truth awaits divulsion. But whatever the story might be, a crime has been committed. And it has been committed inside a jail.
[author title=”Megha Satapathy” image=”http://goachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IMG_20210205_095950.jpg”]Intern, Goa Chronicle[/author]
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