Videos of Satyendar Jain, the Delhi Health Minister who is being held in Tihar Prison, receiving a foot massage have gone viral on social media, sparking a controversy. Defending the videos, Delhi’s deputy chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia claimed that Satyendar Jain was getting his usual physiotherapy treatment for a spine injury and not some massage.
Now, a former official of the Tihar jail has come forward to refute the claims made by Manish Sisodia. Sunil Gupta, former PRO of the Tihar jail has shared detailed information about the practices allowed in the jail and things that are not allowed.
According to a report by India Today, Sunil Gupta said, “The physiotherapy is always done in a separate room by professionals with physiotherapy equipment and never in a jail cell. In the video, the convicts are seen massaging the minister, which is illegal. Usually, convicts line up to provide massage to influential people so that once they get out, they can provide favours to the convicts as well.”
Sunil Gupta added, “Home-cooked food is completely banned and even packed food from outside is not allowed. This is because wrong things were being smuggled under the garb of home-cooked food. If a minister had a one-on-one meeting with his wife, then it is illegal. We don’t allow any special treatment in terms of meetings and no one-on-one meetings are allowed inside the jail.”
Sunil Gupta further added, “TV sets are generally in barracks but under some conditions, they can be provided in jail cells, so it is not illegal. Mineral water bottles can be purchased and taken to jail cells, according to the jail manual. If an influential person such as a gangster, or politician comes to jail, then the system collapses and the ordinary jail officials succumb to the pressure. For a free and fair probe, Satyendar Jain should have stepped aside from the post.”
About Satyendar Jain getting a massage, Sunil Gupta spoke in detail with the news agency ANI. He said, “The video clearly showed that other prisoners were giving him massages. Massage is different from physiotherapy. Physiotherapy is given in physiotherapy wards in the hospital. The massage that he was being given inside the cell is not permissible under jail rules. As far as physiotherapy is concerned, in every jail, there is a physiotherapy center where massage can be given by a physiotherapist or a trained expert.”
Days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated that Satyendar Jain was being given preferential treatment inside the Tihar jail, CCTV footage from within the jail premises was made public on Saturday showing Jain enjoying his stay in the jail.
The video which surfaced on November 19 showed Jain getting special treatment inside the jail. In the video, Jain is being given foot massage and head massage in jail while he is lying on the bed and reading some documents.