Civil rights activists on Tuesday charged that political prisoners Amitab Bagchi, Gangadhara Rao, Rajkumar and others were on hunger strike following their alleged solitary confinement in the Narmada barrack of Chanchalguda central prison in Hyderabad.
Prison superintendent Shiva Kumar, however, refuted the charges of solitary confinement, stating that only on Monday, the movement of prisoners was restricted due to staff shortage. Some members of the prison staff were on leave for personal reasons while a few others were not well, he said.
No prisoner was under solitary confinement and inmates of Narmada block were allowed to move as usual. There were surveillance cameras on the prison premises, he said. Professor Gunti Ravi of the Committee for Democratic Rights Organisations has urged the government to stop mistreatment of the prisoners and protect their rights.