Even the bird does not kill, but Lawrence Bishnoi is imprisoned, spending his days in solitude in the corner of the barrack.

Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi is currently spending his days in solitude in a corner of a barrack of Sabarmati Jail in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He entered the jail on August 24, 2023 and 14 months have passed, but he has not come out even once. Nor did anyone go to meet him. Neither any friend, relative nor his lawyer. Only a few Delhi officials, jail staff and guards have met him.

There are two parts of the jail inside the Sabarmati jail complex – New Jail and Old Jail. There is a building in the old jail which has ten rooms. Lawrence Bishnoi has been kept in one of these ten rooms. This part is for those prisoners who are very dangerous or whose life is in danger. Gang war goes on inside the jail also. Apart from Lawrence Bishnoi’s barrack, all the other barracks are lying vacant. He is alone even in his barrack. If Lawrence Bishnoi needs to talk to his lawyer, it is done through video conferencing. Even if it is necessary for him to be included in the hearing of a case, he attends the hearing only through video conferencing.

Before Sabarmati jail, Lawrence Bishnoi was lodged in Bathinda jail of Punjab. In June, 2022, Punjab Police took Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala from Delhi’s Tihar Jail to Bathinda Jail for questioning in the murder case and in August last year, he was brought to Sabarmati Jail in a drug case. On September 14, 2022, Gujarat’s Anti Terrorist Squad and Indian Coast Guard found a large consignment of drugs in a boat named Altaiyasa at the port near Kutch. More than 20 kg of heroin was found in it, whose value was Rs 200 crore.

During interrogation of those caught with the boat, it was revealed that its links were linked to Lawrence Bishnoi. Then ATS started investigation and Lawrence Bishnoi’s connection came to light. When the suspicion was confirmed, ATS filed an application in Delhi’s Patiala House Court seeking remand of Lawrence Bishnoi for questioning. ATS filed the application in Delhi because he was lodged in Tihar Jail and Punjab Police had taken Lawrence for questioning for a short time. On August 24, 2023, ATS brought Lawrence Bishnoi to Gujarat and he was sent to Sabarmati Central Jail.

Lawrence Bishnoi has 79 cases registered against him including murder, extortion, attempt to murder and kidnapping. Of these, 40 cases are going on in different states including Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal. There are 10 such cases in which the state police want to arrest him, but they are not able to produce him in the courts and they will not be able to get permission for the same in the next ten months i.e. till August next year. The reason for this is section 268 of CrPC. It has become 303 in the Indian Justice Security Code.

This section gives the right to the state government to keep any prisoner out of section 267 of CrPC. Under Section 267, the police of every state can take the prisoner to its state for questioning and the section also gives the right that if the accused is from another state and has committed the crime in another state, then the state where the crime took place will be tried. That the police can take transit remand by going to the state in which the criminal is currently lodged and that state will not refuse. Under Section 267, Punjab Police had taken Lawrence Bishnoi from Delhi Tihar Jail to Bathinda. However, Section 268 of CrPC does not allow this. The police of another state are allowed to interrogate the prisoner in the same jail where he is lodged. Police cannot take it in their state.

The right to impose 268 on any prisoner lies either with the Home Ministry or the government of the state where the accused is lodged. In the case of Lawrence Bishnoi, the Home Ministry has imposed Section 268 on August 2023 till August next year. Three conditions are necessary for a prisoner to get the security cover of Section 268. First, he must have committed a crime and is in jail. Taking out another prisoner from jail and sending him to a jail in another state or to another jail in that state or taking him for questioning to a police station in that state or taking him for appearance in a city court could lead to disturbance of law and order. If there is a possibility, the prisoner will not be taken out of jail. The third condition is that if there is a lot of public interest in the prisoner’s case or if a media trial is going on, then he is not allowed to be taken out of jail.

Also read:-
The empire of piracy has spread all over the world, know how big a threat it is to the common people?