Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], March 28 : Bhopal Central Jail management has restricted the open meeting of inmates with their family members on the upcoming festival of Eid citing ongoing construction work inside the jail and security concerns.
Nonetheless, the normal visits to the jail will continue as usual. The jail management has also pasted a notice on the gate for the purpose which reads "Open meeting will be prohibited on Eid but normal meeting will be allowed."

Bhopal Central Jail Superintendent Rakesh Kumar Bhangre told ANI, "Bhopal Central Jail management has restricted the open meeting system, facilitating from the past during festivals, this time due to security concerns as construction works are going on at a large scale at three different places inside the jail. There are many prisoners associated with various banned outfits, including SIMI, PFI lodged here in Jail. Currently, there are 3400 inmates and bringing all of them along with around 9000 public who visit from outside in the jail and holding their meeting does not seem appropriate for the sake of security."
"Keeping in view that there should not be any major incident, it has been decided that there should not be an open meeting on Eid, instead allow the normal meeting. But still if any instruction is received from the higher ups or the state government, it will be considered to allow an open meeting," Bhangre said.
He further clarified that the decision was not taken under any kind of pressure. If the situation appeared during the festival of Rakshabandhan, then also they would have taken the same decision to prohibit open meetings of inmates and permit only normal meetings.
"We are aware that prohibiting the open meeting on Eid will hurt the sentiments of many Muslim brothers. We also feel sad that the family will not be able to meet the inmates here but we and our department are trying to ensure that this system works smoothly in any way. The situation is the contrary this time. After the construction work, an open meeting will be started again in future but currently we have taken the decision to prohibit it," he added.
Meanwhile, the decision has sparked a debate between the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress party accused that such decisions were taken under the pressure of ruling BJP government and its a violation of human rights.
"I had made allegations before and I am still on it that such decisions are being taken under the pressure of the government. This decision prevents people from meeting their families. Open meetings took place on festivals of Diwali, Rakshabandhan, Holi, Eid etc. This time too, make an arrangement on Eid, so that there should not be a violation of human rights. The BJP should not do politics in the name of arrangements," said Abbas Hafeez, Congress Spokesperson.
The Congress leader also said that during the recently concluded Holi festival an open meeting was held and family members met with inmates. Similarly, open meetings are held during Eid every year but this time, it is prohibited on the pretext of maintenance.
"We demand to make alternative arrangements and allow open meetings. I will meet the DG Jail and ask him to take back the decision and instruct Jail Superintendent to hold an open meeting. The festival of Holi concluded a week ago, the construction work was not going on at that time. Even before this, all the festivals came, there was no issue. When you know that Eid is coming, you should either stop the construction work or start it later, now arrange that it should be stopped for a while. It is in your hands to make arrangements. You will not say that there can be no arrangement. Arrangements can be made and do arrange it to hold open meetings for a day," he added.
On the other hand, BJP spokesperson Ajay Yadav targeted the Congress party saying that the decision was made due to ongoing construction work inside the Jail but the Congress party only did politics on sensitive issues.
"The Congress party is doing appeasement politics. Bhopal jail is a very sensitive jail and many serious inmates are lodged here. In such a situation, the Jail management made such a decision in view of the safety of prisoners as well as any serious prisoners could not escape by taking advantage of any kind of situation. Construction work is going on, so there is a possibility of such an incident. The Congress party, which maintains an irresponsible attitude, does politics only on sensitive issues," Yadav told ANI.
When the situation in jail becomes normal, there will be provision made for special meetings as before and currently, normal meetings are going on, he said.
When asked about the Congress accusing the state BJP government over making such a decision, he said, "It is the responsibility of the state government to take decisions in accordance with the rules and regulations and whatever decision has been taken by the Jail management has been taken based on the rules and based on the intelligence inputs. The Congress party even stands with terrorists and criminals. We do not need to answer to the Congress party."