By U Sudhakar Reddy Hyderabad
The state gov ernment is planning to amend AP Prison Rules to allow women inmates to wear mangalsutras and nose rings in jail.
The Home Minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, gave this assurance on Wednesday after ruckus in the Legislative Council over police removing the mangalsutras of arrested women MPTC members when they were taken to Eluru jail. MLCs of the Telugu Desam protested strongly at this and said that the mangalsutra was sacred for Indian women and remov ing it was tantamount to insulting them.
However, the government said that police removed them for safekeeping since they were valuable property. As such, there is ambiguity in prison rules regarding wearing of mangalsutra. While the rules generally allow female prisoners (except widows) to wear mangalsutras and nose rings in jail, they also insist that inmates should not be allowed to keep valuables. This leaves space for police officers and jail officials to deny permission to women to wear mangalsutras.
The state gov- ernment is planning to amend AP Prison Rules to allow women inmates to wear mangalsutras and nose rings in jail. The Home Minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, gave this assurance on Wednesday after ruckus in the Leg- islative Council over police removing the mangalsutras of arrested women MPTC members when they were taken to Eluru jail. MLCs of the Tel- ugu Desam protested strongly at this and said that the mangalsutra was sacred for Indian women and remov- ing it was tantamount to insulting them. However, the government said that police removed them for safekeeping since they were valuable property. As such, there is ambiguity in prison rules regarding wearing of mangalsu- tra. While the rules generally allow female prisoners (except widows) to wear mangalsutras and nose rings in jail, they also insist that inmates should not be allowed to keep valu- ables. This leaves space for police officers and jail officials to deny per- mission to women to wear mangalsu- tras.
In all, 36 MPTC members were arrested on February 9 at Eluru for obstructing police and they were later remanded to judicial custody. Out of them, nine were women. Four of them were from the Congress, four from the TD and one was an independent.
"While they were shifted to jail, a woman constable escorting them suggested that they hand over their mangalsutras to relatives as prison rules do not allow inmates to wear gold ornaments," said Mr Jana Reddy. Six MPTC members then handed over their mangalsutras to relatives and three others handed them over to the jail officials.
The home minister said that all of them were given pasuputadu (sacred yellow thread) to wear instead of their gold mangalsutras. "It is not true that police forcibly removed the mangalsutras," he said.
All the women MPTC members were released on bail on February 12 and they "remarried" their husbands to lodge their protest.
Mr Jana Reddy admitted in the Council that there was ambiguity in the prison rules and said the government would take steps to clarify matters.
"The Act says that widows can't wear mangalsturas and nose rings," he said. "But nowadays widows wear a nose ring. So we will try to amend rules."
He also ordered a DIG-level inquiry into the incident after the opposition turned down the proposal for a probe by the district collector.
The Leader of Opposition in the Council, Mr D. Veerabadhra Rao, said that removal of mangalsutras hurt the sentiments of the MPTC members.
"One MPTC member is a tribal person and she might be disowned by her husband if she removes the mangalsutra," he said. There was a heated debate over the issue with the TD leaders demanding the suspension of the sub-inspector, Mr Govindarajulu, who allegedly removed the mangalsutras. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy, was present during the discussion
(Published in Deccan Chronicle on Febraury 14 2008)The state gov ernment is planning to amend AP Prison Rules to allow women inmates to wear mangalsutras and nose rings in jail.
The Home Minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, gave this assurance on Wednesday after ruckus in the Legislative Council over police removing the mangalsutras of arrested women MPTC members when they were taken to Eluru jail. MLCs of the Telugu Desam protested strongly at this and said that the mangalsutra was sacred for Indian women and remov ing it was tantamount to insulting them.
However, the government said that police removed them for safekeeping since they were valuable property. As such, there is ambiguity in prison rules regarding wearing of mangalsutra. While the rules generally allow female prisoners (except widows) to wear mangalsutras and nose rings in jail, they also insist that inmates should not be allowed to keep valuables. This leaves space for police officers and jail officials to deny permission to women to wear mangalsutras.
The state gov- ernment is planning to amend AP Prison Rules to allow women inmates to wear mangalsutras and nose rings in jail. The Home Minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, gave this assurance on Wednesday after ruckus in the Leg- islative Council over police removing the mangalsutras of arrested women MPTC members when they were taken to Eluru jail. MLCs of the Tel- ugu Desam protested strongly at this and said that the mangalsutra was sacred for Indian women and remov- ing it was tantamount to insulting them. However, the government said that police removed them for safekeeping since they were valuable property. As such, there is ambiguity in prison rules regarding wearing of mangalsu- tra. While the rules generally allow female prisoners (except widows) to wear mangalsutras and nose rings in jail, they also insist that inmates should not be allowed to keep valu- ables. This leaves space for police officers and jail officials to deny per- mission to women to wear mangalsu- tras.
In all, 36 MPTC members were arrested on February 9 at Eluru for obstructing police and they were later remanded to judicial custody. Out of them, nine were women. Four of them were from the Congress, four from the TD and one was an independent.
"While they were shifted to jail, a woman constable escorting them suggested that they hand over their mangalsutras to relatives as prison rules do not allow inmates to wear gold ornaments," said Mr Jana Reddy. Six MPTC members then handed over their mangalsutras to relatives and three others handed them over to the jail officials.
The home minister said that all of them were given pasuputadu (sacred yellow thread) to wear instead of their gold mangalsutras. "It is not true that police forcibly removed the mangalsutras," he said.
All the women MPTC members were released on bail on February 12 and they "remarried" their husbands to lodge their protest.
Mr Jana Reddy admitted in the Council that there was ambiguity in the prison rules and said the government would take steps to clarify matters.
"The Act says that widows can't wear mangalsturas and nose rings," he said. "But nowadays widows wear a nose ring. So we will try to amend rules."
He also ordered a DIG-level inquiry into the incident after the opposition turned down the proposal for a probe by the district collector.
The Leader of Opposition in the Council, Mr D. Veerabadhra Rao, said that removal of mangalsutras hurt the sentiments of the MPTC members.
"One MPTC member is a tribal person and she might be disowned by her husband if she removes the mangalsutra," he said. There was a heated debate over the issue with the TD leaders demanding the suspension of the sub-inspector, Mr Govindarajulu, who allegedly removed the mangalsutras. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy, was present during the discussion
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