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Dreaded criminals tremble before flying attackers: Deadly mosquitoes feast on under trials at Taloja jail near Mumbai
MUMBAI: The mosquito menace at Taloja jail near Mumbai has reached alarming proportions and several under trials have filed applications before various courts praying for relief against the deadly flying pests.
Even dreaded criminals, murderers and gangsters tremble before the flying pests, seeking relief against this new form of “third degree”.
Recently gangster Ejaz Lakdawala brought a plastic bottle filled with dead mosquitoes to a Mumbai court to highlight the menace faced in the jail where he is lodged and prayed for a mosquito net, but his plea was rejected.
Lakdawala’s application was turned down by the Mumbai sessions court on Thursday on security concerns.
Lakdawala, a former associate of the fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, is facing multiple criminal cases, including those under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
He was arrested in January 2020 and has been lodged at the Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai since then.
According to a PTI report, he recently filed an application in court seeking permission to use a mosquito net. Lakdwala, in his application, said that in 2020 when he was remanded to judicial custody, he was permitted to use one but in May this year, the prison authorities seized the net citing security concerns.
On Thursday, when Lakdawala was produced before the sessions court, he showed a plastic bottle filled with dead mosquitoes and said the inmates of Taloja jail have to face this problem everyday. But the jail authorities opposed the plea citing security reasons, PTI reported.
The court in its order while rejecting the application said the accused applicant (Lakdawala) could use Odomos and other mosquito repellents.
Apart from Lakdawala, several under trials from the Taloja prison have also filed similar applications. In some applications, the request was allowed, but in others they were rejected.
Gangster D K Rao was permitted by the court to use mosquito net by one judge, but another judge did not permit the same to a few accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case and a direction was given to the prison authorities to take all necessary precautions to curb the mosquito menace.
In September this year, activist Gautam Navlakha had also filed an application seeking permission to use a net, which is still pending.
Two accused in the Elgaar Parishad – Bhima Koregaon case – Anand Temtumbde and Sagar Gorkhe had filed applications before a special court praying for mosquito nets in the Taloja prison as it is “manifested with mosquitoes”.
In their application, they highlighted the perineal problem of “millions of mosquitoes”, which cannot be remedied or for that matter even controlled as the surroundings of the jail are a super breeding ground and conducive for mosquito growth. Even mosquito repellants and creams applied to the human body work for only a few hours, they mentioned.
Various courts from time to time have given directions for regular fumigation and removal of weeds, etc. in the jail complex, but according to inmates, fumigation is only done 3-4 times a year, when it needs to be done twice a week to control the breeding of mosquitoes.
According to past applications by under trials, the Kharghar area in Navi Mumbai where the prison is located is a “Malaria prone zone” and on the watch list for “dengue” cases.
The Maharashtra Prison Manual norms provide for mosquito curtains such localities but the Taloja jail authorities refuse to allow inmates to use them citing ‘threat of suicide with mosquito curtains’.
The applications by inmates have also mentioned the “unclean and clogged drainage system within the jail complex, which is a breeding ground” for mosquitoes.
While the authorities fumble for a solution to the mosquito menace, under trails have to bear the brunt of this new form of judicial punishment.
The Taloja jail complex is spread over 27 hectares at Navi Mumbai and is one of the biggest jail complexes in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
The Taloja Central Jail as it is known as, was founded in 2008 as an alternative to the overcrowded Arthur Road jail or Mumbai Central Prison but got fully functional only in 2009-10.
It was the only prison taking in new inmates during the pandemic in the MMR. It lodges over 3,000 inmates, sometimes going up to 3500 and more, against its official capacity of 2,124 prisoners.