In Assam, undertrial swims to freedom: Floods turn college into jail

GUWAHATI: When 409 inmates were shifted from the flooded Dhubri jail to a girls’ college nearby on Monday night, an undertrial accused of rape smelled an opportunity. In the wee hours of Wednesday, just a day after the shifting was complete, 28-year-old Hajifur Rahman broke open the grill of a window and swam to freedom. The Assam police DIG (Western Range) said investigation is on and a manhunt has been launched.
All the prisoners of the Dhubri district jail were shifted to the Dhubri Girls’ college building, which was notified as the temporary jail after floodwaters inundated the original jail campus, on Monday night. When the college’s ground floor got flooded too, the prisoners — including eight women — were kept in various classrooms-turnedprison cells on the first floor.
“Rahman managed to flee through a window of the college building. Though a security blanket was put in place after the prisoners were shifted, a college building can never be as secure as a prison. He managed to break a window grill and flee in the darkness,” said a police officer, adding that Rahman hails from Chagalchara Part II village in Dhubri district and was arrested on rape charges in 2018.
The police said the rising levels of the Brahmaputra, a stormy night and ‘zero’ electricity were some of the major difficulties faced by them at the designated jail campus. “Lack of electricity in the area has made it very difficult for personnel at night. We only had torches and other basic equipment. We had roped in an additional police company from Panbari to avoid a situation like this, but even that did not prove to be enough,” added the officer. Raunak Ali Hazarika, Assam police DIG (Western Range), said, “We have registered a sou motu case to find out the cause behind the prisoner’s escape and to fix responsibility. A manhunt is on to nab him.” He added that the flood situation was likely to improve and all the prisoners could soon be taken back to their original prison cells.