India: video evidence of corruption in various jails in Maharashtra

The Anti-Corruption Bureau is in possession of video evidence of corruption in various jails in Maharashtra. The clips were submitted by a person who was not allowed to meet his relative lodged in Thane Jail until he paid a bribe to the jail staffers. Taken aback by the demand for the bribe, science student Amit Mishra said that he started recording specific instances of venality in Thane Jail, Taloja Jail, Arthur Road Jail and Kalyan Jail.
“I was turned away by the authorities when I complained against an officer at Thane Jail. No one believed me at the time, and instead I was booked under the Atrocity Act for complaining against the said officer. That is when I decided to expose the rackets that are being run across various jails,” Mishra said.

His video clips, he said, contain conversations between him and jail staff and also show money changing hands. Mishra said he would befriend families who would visit the jail to meet their relatives, and coaxed them to help him carry out his expose. Mishra, who started working on his sting operation two months ago, started with Thane Jail. About a month ago, he approached a constable at the jail, and asked him to arrange a meeting with a ‘friend’ who was imprisoned at the jail.

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