Prison authorities not negligent in Saddam's parole: AIG Prison

Assistant Inspector General of Prisons (AIG-Prison) Md. Jannat-ul Farhad has claimed that there was no negligence on the part of the prison authorities in the release of Bagerhat Sadar Upazila Chhatra League (banned organization) president Jewel Hasan Saddam on parole after the death of his wife and child.

Responding to questions from journalists at Kashimpur Prison in Gazipur on Sunday (January 25) afternoon, he said, "The prison authorities do not look into parole, we only implement orders. The District Magistrate basically grants parole; it is his jurisdiction. When the parole order comes to us, we hand over the prisoner to the police of the concerned police station. In that case, a specific time is fixed. When that time has passed, the police hand over the prisoner to us again.’’

He said, ‘‘In the case of Saddam, whether his family or relatives have applied for parole or not, it is not within the prison authorities’s jurisdiction to know. When we are asked whether we will allow the prisoner to see the body, we arrange for a meeting considering the humanitarian aspect.’’

The AIG Prison said, ‘‘I saw in the media that the district magistrate said that no one has applied for parole. Therefore, there is no negligence on the part of the prison authorities here. Rather, the prison authorities have tried to resolve the matter from a humanitarian aspect.’’

On Friday, the police recovered the hanging body of Jewel’s wife Kanij Suborna Swarnali from a house in Bekhedanga village of Bagerhat Sadar upazila. The body of her 9-month-old child Nazim was also recovered from the same place.

According to the family members of the deceased, Suborna committed suicide after killing her child out of mental depression. Jewel Hasan Saddam was given a five-minute opportunity to view the bodies of his wife and child at the gate of Jessore Central Jail on Saturday evening. They were buried in the family graveyard after the funeral service at 10:30 pm.