Inmates of the Meerut district jail fought pitched battles with the police and jail staff on Wednesday. About two dozen persons, including 13 policemen, were injured in stone throwing and retaliatory action by the police.
Reports of jail break were denied by the IG, Law and Order, B.P. Singh. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered.
This is the fourth incident of lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh jails in the last one month since the formation of the Samajwadi Party government. Similar incidents occurred earlier in Basti, Mau and Bijnore jails.
Wednesday's incident was the fallout of a dispute between the prisoners and a jail staffer, who stopped an undertrial from taking a lighter inside the jail on Tuesday when he returned from trial proceedings in a local court.
The IG, Law and Order, told journalists that the same prisoner and some fellow inmates attacked the jail warden with a blade, injured him and then resorted to heavy stone throwing at the jail staff.
The inmates also burnt a gas cylinder and torched the office of the deputy jailer, Mr. Singh said. Police used force to bring the situation under control. The injured included the deputy jailer, some prisoners and 13 policemen, Mr. Singh said. He denied that arms were found in the jail in the police raid after Wednesday's incident. He said a report of the incident had been sought by the IG, Prisons.
