26/11 terror attack accused seeks relief from solitary confinement

The application describes the cell in detail, stating that it becomes a “furnace” in the day, but does not receive any sunlight as it is closed from all sides. According to the application, a high voltage electricity bulb is kept switched on 24×7 in the metal cage.

[related-post]

“The accused/applicant, even cannot keep count for day/week or distinguish day from night while he is inside the cell,” the application states.

Ansari has also alleged that he has been treated by prison authorities in an inhuman and brutal manner, adding that since the past few months, daily walks in a confined area near his cell have also been stopped. He has also charged jail authorities with administering psychological pressure on him and also suspects that he is being slow poisoned to “lead to death/handicapped (sic) of insanity,” the application states.

Further, Ansari has drawn parallels with the mysterious death in a Pune jail in 2012 of terror accused Qateel Siddiqui. “There are unwritten directions that he has to be somehow eliminated without leaving a trace and his death should look like ‘natural death’ or otherwise he has to be psychologically tortured to such an extent that he loses his sanity,” the applications reads.

The application goes on to explain that Ansari was forced to adopt the “Gandhian method of peaceful protest” to bring his “inhuman conditions” to the notice of the court.

Ansari also alleged that there is a conspiracy in place by the Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad to kill him inside the jail. Pracha has sought that the court order an inquiry into Ansari’s living conditions inside the jail and file a detailed report into his treatment inside the jail.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com