J&K Residents Lodged In Jails Outside State Dial Families On Eid: Centre

"As a goodwill gesture, special permission was given to all to speak to their families and exchange wishes," a senior officer in the Home Ministry told NDTV.

New Delhi:

Eid for 122 prisoners lodged outside Jammu and Kashmir was not a lonely one as on the initiative of the Home Ministry, each of them managed to speak to their families back home and exchange greetings.

"As a goodwill gesture, special permission was given to all to speak to their families and exchange wishes," a senior officer in the Home Ministry told NDTV.

According to him, since these prisoners have been lodged outside Jammu and Kashmir, Eid greetings with family members are not that often.

"Amid the coronavirus pandemic, it is more difficult for their families to travel, so special arrangements were made and permission was given to all," he said, adding each prisoner was given a specific time to speak with their family members.

According to Home Ministry data, out of 122 prisoners lodged outside Jammu and Kashmir, 106 are in Uttar Pradesh, 15 in Haryana and one in Delhi.

"They have been lodged in these jails for various offences. It was the Home Ministry's initiative to connect them with their families on Eid," an officer said.

In Uttar Pradesh they are lodged in Agra's Central Jail, Central Jail Naini in Prayagraj, Central Jail in Varanasi, District Jail Bareilly, District Jail Ambedkar Nagar and District Jail in Lucknow.

While 15 in Haryana are lodged in district prisons of Karnal and Jhajjar and in Delhi in Tihar jail.

"Yes one of the prisoners in this list is lodged in Tihar and we granted special permission to him to speak to his family," DG (Tihar) Sandeep Goel told NDTV.