North Indian prisoners find South Indian food unpalatable

– A group of prisoners from North India, who have been lodged at the Central jail in Bangalore, have approached the Karnataka High Court seeking North Indian food.

Contending that the South Indian food served to them in the jail had made them weak, six prisoners, two each from Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have urged the High Court to direct the prison authorities to allow them to receive North Indian food or permit them to cook their own food.

The petitioners, who had been lodged in the Central prison at Parappana Agrahara in Bangalore as undertrials, took serious exception to the poor hygiene in the jail and urged the High Court to direct the authorities to provide the jail inmates with good food, clean water and other basic amenities.

Pointing out that State was bound under law to provide adequate facilities to the prisoners, the petitioners said the North Indian inmates, who were unable to digest the South Indian food, could not even order for meals from the canteen as it had been closed since July 2007.

The petitioners – Shameem Ahmed and Syed Asim from Delhi, Rajesh Salecha and Rameshwar Palhidar of Rajasthan, Devendra Soni and Deepak Porwal from Madhya Pradesh claimed that there were around 50 prisoners from North India lodged at the Bangalore Central jail.

They urged the High Court to segregate them from local prisoners with whom they were unable to converse. The absence of communication between prisoners and North India and South India was causing leading to misunderstanding and friction, said the petitioners.

Also, the North Indian prisoners have complained to the High Court that as many as 100 prisoners are packed in cells and the toilet facilities in the prison are grossly inadequate. Apart from unpalatable food and inadequate facilities, the prisoners have also taken serious exception to their alleged humiliation by the jail officials, who handcuff them at the time of producing them before the court.

High Court Judge K L Manjunath, who heard the petition, said the prayer of the petitioners is in the nature of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and referred the matter to Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph.