Mentally ill wreaks havoc in jail

MALDA, June 23: The Malda jail authorities are in deeep trouble having to tackle a mentally challenged inmate arrested in connection with a murder case.A few days ago a person identified as Nazrul Islam became violent in jail and authorities had to admit him to the Malda district hospital. Since Nazrul's behaviour did not seem normal, the doctors and nurses faced a lot of difficulty dealing with him. He was reluctant to go to the toilet and littered the hospital's floor. Hospital authorities discharged him yesterday and he was sent to Malda jail again. The jail super said they would seek legal aid for Nazrul so that he can get bail just after completion of 90 days."His family members were hesitant to take any initiative for his release depressing him all the more," official sources said."If we see Nazrul becoming more violent, we would request our authorities to transfer him to Alipore central jail for better treatment”, said Mr C R Gharai."Two such mentally challenged inmates, who were causing trouble, have been referred to Alipore central jail recently for treatment, he said adding, " we always fear the occurence of any untoward incident if we fail to tackle mentally challenged inmates properly'. n SNS