Politicians have no fear of jail as they get five star facilities

- Politics heated up on the issue of services received by Satyendra Jain in jail

- Occasional

- The unfortunate thing is that strict provision cannot be made because the political parties are intermingled

Reports of Aam Aadmi Party Minister Satyendra Jain receiving services in Tihar Jail are frequently in the news. Sometimes they are getting a massage and sometimes they are seen eating from the tiffin that is provided for them. Delhi's opposition BJP is clamoring but the Aam Aadmi Party never gives an explanation.

Noted police officer Kiran Bedi, who has been vocal about the basic facilities provided to inmates in the jail and who has led many reforms in the jail, said that the hands of the jail authorities are tied as the Delhi government (Aam Aadmi Party) is running the Tihar jail. Kiran Bedi was a pioneer in prison reforms. He was awarded The Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1994 for bringing radical changes in the facilities provided to prisoners in Tihar.

Prisons have a home-like atmosphere for political prisoners. In the case of Satyendra Jain, he is getting more facilities than a house. It is as if he has lost his office in the jail. Kiran Bedi has said that there are CCTV cameras in the jail, everything is being recorded in them. But Satyendra Jain knows that governance in Tihar belongs to his government. Arvind Kejriwal was also accompanied by Kiran Bedi on the stage of Anna Hazare's agitation.

While Kejriwal formed the Aam Aadmi Party, Kiran Bedi supported Narendra Modi in 2014 and joined the BJP. In 2015, he contested the Assembly with the face of BJP as the Chief Minister but did not win. BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi has said that Jain enjoys the same facilities in jail as if he were staying in a holiday resort.

Here the true facts are suppressed in the accusations between BJP and Aam Aadmi Party. It is not new that political prisoners and people of dark background get five star facilities in jails. Gangsters involved in politics in Uttar Pradesh were getting what they wanted in jails. In jail, these people could order food from outside, but they were also giving betel nut to kill someone while sitting in jail. Generally people have come to believe that prison life is full of hardships and inmates are cut off from contact with the outside world. Some talk is bookish but special facilities have been given to moneylenders, politicians and gangsters in prisons and this has been publicly criticized. Jayalalitha's special favorite Sasikala used to get VIP treatment in jail. It was okay for him to have separate meals in jail, but he was running a political party while in jail. It was alleged that Sasikala had given two crore rupees to the jail authorities to get special facilities.

When Subroto Roy of Sahara India, who could not pay Rs 20,000 crore, was kept in Tihar Jail in 2014, he was officially paid 31 lakh rupees for air-conditioned room, western toilet, mobile phone, Wi-Fi, video conference facility etc. Subratoroy was the first inmate in Tihar Jail to be given the facility of air conditioning. The court allowed for such facilities.

Laluprasad Yadav, who is in Birsa Munda Jail in the fodder scam, was given facilities including a TV set, two personal chefs. Separate vegetables were ordered for them. People from outside could visit him. The fact is that a bill should be passed and given the form of a law that political prisoners should be punished more severely than ordinary prisoners in jails. The unfortunate thing is that political parties are in-house, so strict provision cannot be made. People's representatives seek facilities at every stage. People also know that political prisoners are holding concerts even in jails. There is no fear of jail in their mind. There is a need to get out of the illusion that every prisoner gets the same facilities.