Vijayapura: In viral video, jail inmate claims assault for offering prayers to Lord Ram

Team Udayavani, Jan 28, 2024, 8:08 PM IST

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An inmate of Vijayapura Central Prison has alleged assault by other inmates for offering prayers to Lord Ram on the day of the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya.

In a 3-minute-5-second video, which has gone viral, the inmate Parameshwara of Maharashtra origin states that he had requested jail authorities to allow the worship of Lord Ram on January 22. Though there was no response from the prison authorities a few inmates offered prayers and distributed prasadam.

The next day on January 23, Assistant Prison Superintendent summoned him and two other inmates and questioned them for offering prayers without permission.

Parameshwara claimed that the officer, belonging to a minority community assaulted him and the other inmates while the jail staff stood as mute spectators. Later they were locked in a separate cell away from other inmates.

He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to provide him with justice.

Clarifying the issue, Vijayapura District Central Prison Superintendent I.J. Myageri said that Parameshwara is concocting false stories. He was transferred to Vijayapura Prison following a similar incident in a Maharashtra jail.

On January 23, the accused quarreled with other inmates and thus we put him in solitary confinement to control the ruckus in the jail, he said.

Though mobile phones are banned in prison, the accused has made a video on his mobile phone. “We are investigating how the accused got the mobile phone inside the jail,” he said.