“Impossible to create CM office in jail, all rules have to be broken”: Former Tihar Jail PRO on Kejriwal

New Delhi: Refuting the Aam Aadmi Party’s claim of running the Delhi Government from Jail, former Tihar Jail PRO Sunil Kumar Gupta on Monday said that it would be extremely challenging and all the rules have to be broken for it.

Sunil Kumar Gupta told ANI that running a government does not mean simply signing the files, it includes many works that practically cannot be done inside the jail.

“It would be extremely challenging. There has to be a personal staff with the CM. As of now, there are 16 jails and there is no such facility in any of them where a Chief Ministership can run from. All the rules have to be broken for it. No one would allow the breaking of so many rules. Running a government does not mean simply signing the files. To run a government, cabinet meetings are called, ministers are consulted, and there is a lot of staff, there are meetings or telephone conversations with the LG. The jail does not have a telephone facility. The public comes to meet a CM for the redressal of their grievances,” he said.

“It is impossible to create a CM office in a jail,” he added.

#WATCH | Delhi: On the process of running the government from jail, Former Tihar Jail PRO Sunil Kumar Gupta says, “It would be extremely challenging. There has to be a personal staff with the CM. As of now, there are 16 jails and there is no such facility in any of them where a… pic.twitter.com/lX6oWI4JC2

— ANI (@ANI) April 1, 2024

Further, former Tihar Jail PRO said that the administrator has the power to declare his house or office a jail and if they do this, then you can sign files etc.

“But in that place, there will have to be a superintendent and the staff will also have to be kept there. There is a lot of hindrance in that too. Prisoners in jail can speak to their families every day for 5 minutes and all of it is recorded. All this is not practical at his house,” former Tihar Jail PRO said.

Gupta also mentioned that whenever such an influential person comes to jail, preparations have to be made to keep him safe and secure.

“According to the jail manual, first of all, they have to be kept in a safe and secure place. It is the responsibility of the Superintendent to ensure that no one harms them. I have heard that he also does yoga and meditation, so we will keep him in a place where he can do all this. The good thing about Delhi is that there is no classification system based on status and wealth here. This used to happen 30 years ago, in which if someone was MLA or MP, they would get a B-class facility. There is still a classification system in the Southern States,” Sushil Kumar Gupta told ANI.

He also pointed out that the superintendent has to ensure a place where Kejriwal can meet his family.

“A common man can meet his family twice a week and his name has to be registered first. Names of 10 people have to be written. But due to security reasons, he cannot be kept with normal people and the superintendent will have to designate a place where Kejriwal can meet his family,” he said.