Tihar Prisons (Hindi: तिहाड़ क़ैदख़ाना, Telugu: తీహార్ జైలు, Kannada: ತಿಹಾರ ಜೈಲ್, Bengali: তিহাড় কারাগার, Tamil: திகார் சிறைகள் 'Tihāṛ Central Qaidkhānā'), also called Tihar Jail and Tihar Ashram (Hindi: तिहाड़ आश्रम), is the largest complex of prisons in South Asia.^[1] It is located at Tihar village, approximately 7 km from Chanakya Puri, to the west of New Delhi, India. The surrounding area is called Hari Nagar.

The prison is maintained as a Correctional Institution. Its main objective is to convert its inmates into normal members of the society by providing them with useful skills, education and rules. It is meant to improve the inmates' self-esteem and strengthen their desire to improve. Items manufactured by the inmates bear the brand Tihar.^[2] As of November 2006^[update], Tihar jail has almost 12,000 inmates against the sanctioned capacity of 5,200.^[3]

History[link]

Originally it was a maximum security prison run by the State of Punjab. In 1966 control was transferred to the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Beginning in 1984 additional facilities were constructed, and it became the Tihar Prison.

While Kiran Bedi was the Inspector General of Prisons, and had the Tihar Prisons under her jurisdiction, she instituted a number of prison reforms, including changing the name to Tihar Ashram. She also instituted a Vipassana meditation program for both staff and inmates. The initial classes were given by S. N. Goenka. The Prison has yielded an inmate who has passed the Indian Administrative Service civil service examinations.^[4]

Notorious inmates[link]

• Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh, hanged for the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
• International serial killer Charles Sobraj escaped from Tihar on 16 March 1986, but was recaptured shortly thereafter, returned to the prison and sentenced to an additional ten years for the escape. He was released on completion of his term on 17 February 1997.

• Ripun Bora, education minister of Assam's Tarun Gogoi-led Congressional government, the main accused in the Daniel Topno murder case, was arrested by CBI officials on 3 June 2008 and sent to Tihar on 7 June 2008.^{[citation needed]}

• 2G spectrum scamsters — including, A. Raja, M. K. Kanimozhi, Vinod Goenka, Shahid Balwa and Sanjay Chandra.^[5]

• Suresh Kalmadi, former president of Indian Olympic Association, arrested for alleged corruption during 2010 Commonwealth Games.^[5]

• Amar Singh, former member of Samajwadi Party, arrested for Cash-for-votes scandal.^[6]

Notable inmates[link]

• Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Indian social activists fighting against corruption were arrested when trying to protest due to disagreement between Civil Society and UPA Government over an anti-corruption bill commonly called as Jan-Lokpal Bill and the government's Lokpal bill.

Health Concerns[link]

The Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre reports that around 6% to 8% of the 11,800 Tihar inmates are HIV positive, which is considerably higher than the general population HIV rate in India.^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Delhi portal
	Criminal justice portal

• Tihar Prisons Official website
• Tihar Prisons Official Website (Hindi)

Mohammad Afzal Guru, also known as Afzal Guru, is a Kashmiri terrorist who was convicted of conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of India in 2004. The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on 20 October 2006. Afzal was given a stay of execution and remains on death row.

Early life[link]

He belonged to Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.^[1] He had completed the first year of his MBBS course and was pursuing for IAS exams. However later on he was involved in terrorist activities and became a member of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front and subsequently went to Pakistan and received terrorist training and got involved into such terrorist activities. Unhappy with the situation there, he shifted back to India and surrendered before Border Security Force.^[2] In a 2011 interview to Tehelka, he stated that his family had probably been Brahmins around seven centuries ago.^[3]

In his confessional statement during the trial, he mentioned about joining JKLF, a militant outfit during the year 1989-90 and had received training in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan in insurgent activities and coming back to India with arms. He then confessed about arriving in Delhi with his cousin Shaukat for studies, coming into contact with SAR Gilani while studying in Delhi University, surrendering before Border Security Force in 1993 on the advice of his family members, returning back to his native place Sopore and doing commission agency business, coming into contact with one Tariq of Anantanag at that time, who motivated him to join Jihad for liberation of Kashmir and assured him of financial assistance, Tariq introducing him to one Ghaziabad, Karachi who was a proclaimed offender in Kashmir who further exhorted him to join the movement and apprised him of the mission to carry out attacks on important institutions in India like Parliament and Embassies and asked him to find a safe hideout for the 'Fidayeens' in Delhi.

The case[link]

The attack was conducted jointly by the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM). Seven members of the security forces, including a female constable, were killed, as were the five still incompletely identified men who carried out the attack.

Following were the charges against Afzal Guru as per the Chargesheet: The Charges against him included:^[1]

• Leading the Police to recovery of explosive substance from his place of hideout in Delhi.
• Conspiring to commit and knowingly facilitated the commission of a terrorist act or acts preparatory to terrorist act and also voluntarily harboured and concealed the deceased terrorists knowing that such persons were terrorists and he himself were the members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, a banned terrorist organisation, which is involved in terrorists act and hence committed an offence punishable Under Section 3(3) (4) and (5) of Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act.
• Possession of 10 Lakhs given to them by the terrorists who were killed by the police when they had attacked the Parliament of India.

He was arrested on December 12, 2001 along with Shaukat and later on explosives were found from their hideout in Delhi. Eighty witnesses were examined for the prosecution and ten were examined for defense. The judgment mentions:

"The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, has shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender."^[4]

On December 19, 2001 he made a confession of the offenses which was recorded and was signed by him. He also confirmed having made the confessional statement without any threat or pressure.^[5]

He was convicted for the offences under Sections 121, 121A, 122, Section 120B read with Sections 302 & 307 read with Section 120B IPC, sub-Sections (2), (3) & (5) of Section 1, 3(4), 4(b)of POTA and Sections 3 & 4 of Explosive Substances Act. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment on as many as eight counts under the provisions of IPC, POTA and Explosive Substances Act in addition to varying amounts of fine.^[6]

An appeal was made to the Delhi High Court but after going through the case and taking in consideration various authorities and precedents, the Court found that the conviction of Afzal Guru was safe and hence his appeal was dismissed.^[1]

Pressure for clemency[link]

There is an appeal to issue clemency to Afzal from various human rights groups including political groups in Kashmir, who believe that Afzal Guru did not receive a fair trial and was subject to a frame up of corrupt and inefficient police work. Human rights activists in various parts of India and the world have demanded reprieve as they believe that the trial was flawed. Arundhati Roy and Praful Bidwai castigated the trial and argued that Afzal has been denied natural justice.^[7][8] Accusations of human rights violations have been made by many.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Indian National Congress and local political groups voiced their support of clemency for Afzal. It is alleged many have done so to appease Muslim voters in India.^[9]

Communist Party of India (Marxist) is critical of both the Congress, who is delaying the legal procedure in the case as well as BJP who tries to whip up enmity between communities in the name of a crime done by a group of criminals. The party wants the law of the land to take its course without any interference.^[10]

Ram Jethmalani holds that it is completely within the President's power to commute the Death sentence and is not a mercy plea. He says, "It’s a misnomer to call it a mercy petition. It leads to total misunderstanding of the constitutional power. The constitutional power is that the President has the power to disagree with the Supreme Court both with its findings of fact and law."^[11]

But others^[who?] are of the view that such a sweeping Constitutional power cannot be given to the President inasmuch as it would subvert the concept of justice enshrined in the Constitution.

The Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party president and MP, Mehbooba Mufti commented that the Centre should pardon Afzal if Pakistan accepted the clemency appeal for Sarabjit Singh.^[12]

Ms. Mufti, said that if clemency appeals were made for Sarabjit citing his Indian nationality, voices should also be raised for Afzal for "he too is an Indian citizen". "Two citizens of India cannot be treated with different yardsticks" she had said.

However, the All India Anti-Terrorist Front Chairman Maninderjeet Singh Bitta has urged the President of India not to accept any clemency pleas on Afzal's behalf. He warned that his organisation would launch agitations if Afzal was pardoned. He also criticised statements of various political leaders and blamed them for "encouraging activities of militants in Jammu and Kashmir".^[13]

An India Today poll in late October showed that 78% of Indians supported the death penalty for Afzal^[9]

On 12 November 2006, the former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Mr. Lal Krishna Advani criticized the delay in carrying out the death sentence on Guru for the Parliament terror attack, saying, "I fail to understand the delay. They have increased my security. But what needs to be done immediately is to carry out the court's orders".

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has severely criticized Arundhati Roy. BJP spokespoerson Prakash Javadekar said:

"Those who are supporting Afzal by demanding that he should not be hanged are not only acting against public sentiment in the country but are giving a fillip to terrorist morale," ^[14]

On 23 June 2010, the Ministry of Home Affairs has recommended the President's office to reject the mercy petition.
On the 7th of January 2011, a whisleblowing site indianleaks.in has leaked a document which states that the mercy petition file is not with President of India.^[15] This was confirmed by Home Minister P. Chidambaram in New Delhi on 23 Feb 2011.^[16]

On the 10th of August 2011 the home ministry of India rejected the mercy petition and sent a letter to the President of India recommending the death penalty .^[17]

Posted on Sep 07, 2011 at 02:42pm IST, HuJI claims responsibility for Delhi HC blast at the Delhi High Court in which 10 people have been killed and 65 others injured. HuJI in an e-mail sent to a media house claimed that the blast was carried out in retaliation to Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's death sentence.

"We owe the responsibility of todays blasts at high court delhi..... our demand is that Afzal Guru's death sentence should be repealed immediately else we would target major high courts & THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA," the e-mail read.

See also[link]

• Justice for Afzal Guru - website
• 2001 Indian Parliament attack
• Maulana Masood Azhar
• Indian Airlines Flight 814
• Ajmal Kasab

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c} State v. Mohd. Afzal and Ors., Judgment of High Court of Delhi in Murder Reference No. 1/2003 and Crl. A. No. 43/2003 by J. Usha Mehra and J. Pradeep Nandrajog 9October 29, 20030
2. ^ http://www.amarujala.com/national/nat-Afzal-Compunction-why-not-exploded-a-car-bomb-16054.html.
3. ^ "Afzal Guru invited Tihar jail superintendent Manoj Dwivedi to convert to Islam". Tehelka. 29 August 2011. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws290811Afzal.asp. Retrieved 27 December 2011. 
4. ^ http://justiceforafzalguru.org/background/AfzalBooklet-1.pdf
5. ^ State ( N . C . T . of Delhi ) vs . Navjot Sandhu @ Afsan Guru, Supreme Court of India, August 8, 2005
6. ^ State ( N . C . T . of Delhi ) vs . Navjot Sandhu @ Afsan Guru, Supreme Court of India, August 8, 2005.
7. ^ Roy, Arundhati (15 December 2006). "India's shame". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,1972788,00.html. Retrieved 13 May 2010. 
8. ^ Afzal must not hang
9. ^ ^{a b} (30 October 2006). No Mercy. India Today, [5(43)], [14-15].
10. ^ Playing With National Security People's Democracy
11. ^ http://www.tehelka.com/story_main21.asp?filename=Ne102806Afzal_was_CS.asp
12. ^ [1]
13. ^ "Bitta urges President not to pardon Afzal". The Times Of India. 8 November 2006. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/366888.cms. 
14. ^ The Hindustani Times
15. ^ "Afzal Guru Mercy petition file is not with President of India!". Indian Leaks. 7 January 2010. http://indianleaks.in/leaks/afzal-guru-mercy-petition-file-in-not-with-president-of-india/. 
16. ^ "Afzal Guru’s mercy petition not yet sent to president: Chidambaram.". Deccan Herald. 23 February 2011. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/140350/afzal-gurus-mercy-petition-not.html. 
17. ^ "Home Ministry rejects Afzal Guru's mercy petition.". CNN-IBN. 10 August 2011. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/home-ministry-rejects-afzal-gurus-mercy-plea/174655-3.html. 

External links[link]

• Bitta urges President not to pardon Afzal
• Clemency-seekers weakened Afzal's defence
• Terror needs direct response

Ram Singh (known by his followers as Satguru) (February 3, 1816) was a religious leader and social reformer^{[citation needed]} and the first Indian to use non-cooperation and boycotting of British merchandise and services as a political weapon. He was the religious leader of the Namdhari (Kuka) sect of Sikhism. Ram Singh launched his revolt against the British on 12 April 1857 by hoisting a white flag of freedom and announced a programme of far reaching significance.

He called for the people to boycott government services^{[citation needed]}, boycott British run educational institutions and law courts, boycott foreign made goods and defy British laws. He was the originator of the nonviolent^{[citation needed]} and civil disobedience movement in Punjab in 1872.

Ram Singh's fight for independence was a turning point in world history for it eventually sounded the death-knell of colonial rule in the British empire. Mahatma Gandhi later used the concepts of non-cooperation and civil disobedience propounded by Ram Singh as political weapons against the British^{[citation needed]}. His ideas played a key part in securing India's Independence from the British.

References[link]

• Ram Singh's escape from Burma

External links[link]

• Sikh history - Namdhari
• Namdhari history
• Origin of Non-Violence

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Kiran Bedi
Bedi at the "Successful Women in Management" (SWIM) conference, 2007
Born	(1949-06-09) June 9, 1949 (age 63)[1] Amritsar, Punjab, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Panjab University, Chandigarh University of Delhi IIT Delhi
Occupation	IPS Officer (1972–2007) Social activist
Religion	Hinduism[1]
Awards	Suryadatta National Award 2007 United Nations Medal 2004 Ramon Magsaysay Award 1994 President’s Gallantry Award 1979
Website
Kiran Bedi

Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist and a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.^[1] Bedi joined the police service in 1972 and became the first woman officer in the IPS.^[2] Bedi held the post of Director General at the Bureau of Police Research and Development before she voluntarily retired from the IPS in December 2007.^[3] Bedi was the host and judge of the popular TV series "Aap Ki Kachehri" (English, "Your Court"), which is based on real-life disputes and provides a platform for settling disputes between consenting parties.^[4]

She has also founded two NGOs in India: the Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation for welfare and preventative policing in 1988^[5] which was later renamed as the Navjyoti India Foundation in 2007, and the India Vision Foundation for prison reformation, drug abuse prevention and child welfare in 1994.^[6] Bedi was awarded Ramon Magsaysay award in 1994 for Government service.^[7]

Early life and education[link]

Kiran Bedi was born in Amritsar, Punjab, India. She is the second of four daughters of Prakash Peshawaria and Prem Peshawaria. Her three sisters are; Shashi, an artist settled in Canada, Reeta, a clinical psychologist and writer, and Anu, a lawyer.^{[citation needed]}

She attended the Sacred Heart Convent School, Amritsar, where she joined the National Cadet Corps(NCC). She took up tennis, a passion she inherited from her father, a tennis player.^[1] She won the Junior National Lawn Tennis Championship in 1966, the Asian Lawn Tennis Championship in 1972, and the All-India Interstate Women's Lawn Tennis Championship in 1976.^[8] In addition, she also won the All-Asian Tennis Championship, and won the Asian Ladies Title at the age of 22.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English (Hons.) from the Government College for Women, Amritsar in 1968. She then earned a Master’s degree in Political Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh, graduating at the top of her class in 1970. She later obtained Bachelor of Laws in 1988 from Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. In 1993, she obtained a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the Department of Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi,^[9] where the topic of her thesis was 'Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence'.^[10]

In 1972, Kiran Bedi married Brij Bedi,^[1] a textile machine manufacturer whom she met at the Amritsar tennis courts. Neither of them were particularly religious, so they married in a quasi-religious ceremony at a local Shiva temple.^[1] Three years later, in 1975, they had daughter Saina, who is now also involved in community service. In one of her lectures to a corporate meeting, Kiran Bedi expressed her belief that everyone in society has an important role to play which will enable others to fulfill their duties (or important tasks), quoting the example of her uneducated housemaid whose help in Bedi's daily household work had helped Bedi to complete an important task of writing a book.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

She began her career as a Lecturer in Political Science (1970–72) at Khalsa College for Women, Amritsar. In July 1972, she joined the Indian Police Service, becoming the first woman to do so.^[11] Bedi joined the police service "because of [her] urge to be outstanding".^[12]

She served in a number of tough assignments ranging from New Delhi traffic postings, Deputy Inspector General of Police in Mizoram, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor of Chandigarh, Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau, to a United Nations delegation, where she became the Civilian Police Advisor in United Nations peacekeeping operations.^[13] For her work in the UN, she was awarded a UN medal.^[14] She is popularly referred to as Crane Bedi for towing the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's car for a parking violation,^[11] during the PM's tour of United States at the time.^[9]

Kiran Bedi influenced several decisions of the Indian Police Service, particularly in the areas of narcotics control, Traffic management, and VIP security. During her stint as the Inspector General of Prisons, in Tihar Jail (Delhi) (1993–1995), she instituted a number of reforms in the management of the prison, and initiated a number of measures such as detoxification programs, Art of Living Foundation Prison Courses,^[15] yoga, vipassana meditation, Murat redressing of complaints by prisoners and literacy programs.^[16] For this she won the 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award, and the 'Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship', to write about her work at Tihar Jail.^[10]

She was last appointed as Director General of India's Bureau of Police Research and Development.

In May 2005, she was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Law in recognition of her “humanitarian approach to prison reforms and policing”.^[17]

On 27 November 2007, she expressed her wish to voluntarily retire from the police force to undertake new challenges in life. On 25 December 2007, the Government of India agreed to relieve Bedi of her duties as Director General of the Bureau of Police Research and Development.

Social initiatives[link]

Kiran Bedi along with 17 other police officers set up Navjyoti India Foundation (NIF) in 1987,^[5] NIF started with a de-addiction and rehabilitation initiative for the drug addicts and now the organization has expanded to other social issue like illiteracy and women empowerment.^[5] In 1994 Bedi setup India Vision Foundation which works in field of police reforms, prison reforms, women empowerment and rural and community development.^[18] Her efforts have won national and international recognition, and her organizations were awarded the "Serge Soitiroff Memorial Award" for drug abuse prevention by the United Nations.^{[citation needed]}

Lokpal Movement[link]

Kiran Bedi is one of the prominent members of the India Against Corruption (IAC) along with Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. IAC has been actively protesting against corruption and is urging the government of India to enact a strong Lokpal Bill.^[19] On August 16, 2011, Key members of the India Against Corruption including Bedi were arrested four hours before the planned indefinite hunger strike by Hazare.^[20] However, Bedi and other activist were later released in the evening same day.^[21] After twelve days of protests and many discussions between the government and the activists, Parliament passed a resolution to consider three points in drafting of Lokpal bill.^[22]

Honours and Awards[link]

Controversies[link]

In July 1994, Kiran Bedi, the then Inspector-General of Prisons of Tihar Jail was pulled up by the Supreme Court of India for ignoring the apex court directives for providing medical attention to a foreign under-trial prisoner by initiating contempt proceedings against her. She escaped from punishment despite being heavily reprimanded, in view of her winning the Magsasay Award, the court exonerating her from further proceedings.^[30] In 1988 Wadhwa Commission criticized Bedi for her role in lathi-charge on lawyers protesting against a colleague’s arrest outside Bedi’s office.^[31] Karan Thapar, host of many popular interview shows published an article on controversies surrounding Bedi after she pulled out of one of Thapar's interview show.^[32]

Bedi was criticized for being a hardliner in the negotiations with government over Lokpal bill.^[33] Later members of parliament proposed to bring a breach of privilege motion against Kiran Bedi and a few other activists for allegedly mocking the parliamentarians during the lokpal bill protests,^[34] however withdrew the notice later.^[35]

Kiran Bedi was alleged to have charged her hosts full fare for air tickets despite her paying discounted fare. She was also alleged to have charged her hosts business class fare while flying economy class.^[36][37]Kiran Bedi was also accused by an NGO of claiming business class fare from Delhi to Mumbai, while her travel intineray communicated to them showed she was flying from nearby Pune.^[38] Kiran Bedi has said that money was not earned for personal gains, but given to her NGO.^[39]

In 1992 Kiran Bedi's daughter was given admission for MBBS course in Delhi's Hardinge College under a quota for student's from North-East. Kiran Bedi was posted in Mizoram at that time. She had defended the move to get her daughter admitted in a reserved seat saying that Central Government employees are entitled to such schemes.^[40]

On 26 November 2011, based on a complaint filed by a Delhi-based lawyer Devinder Singh Chauhan, the additional chief metropolitan magistrate Amit Bansal has directed the crime branch of Delhi police to register a case against Kiran Bedi within 24 hours, for allegedly misappropriating funds meant for her NGOs.^[41] Consequently, Delhi Police has registered a case against Bedi under Section 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 120 b (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.^[42]

In films and literature[link]

A non fiction feature film on Kiran Bedi's life, Yes Madam, Sir, has been produced by Australian film maker, Megan Doneman. This film is being screened in film festivals around the world. Its commentator is an Academy Award winner, Helen Mirren. Kiran Bedi was present during its screenings in Toronto, Dubai and Adelaide, and to address the Q&A sessions at the end of each show.

The documentary has made a clean sweep of the award categories---“Best Documentary” with a cash award of $100,000, the biggest prize for a documentary in any film festival in the US and the Social Justice Award with $2500 at Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Yes Madam, Sir got a unanimous vote from the jury.

In 2006, Norwegian Mpower Film & Media and film maker Oystein Rakkenes released another documentary on Bedi and her prison revolution in Tihar Central Jail, In Gandhi's footsteps. The film was awarded Best Documentary at the Indo-American Film Festival in Atlanta, in November 2006.

Kiran Bedi also became host in 2009–10 on the TV show Aap Ki Kachehri Kiran Ke Saath on Star Plus.

Biographies of Bedi:

• I dare!: Kiran Bedi : a biography by Parmesh Dangwal^[43]
• Kiran Bedi, the kindly baton by Meenakshi Saxena^[44]

Bibliography[link]

• It's always possible: transforming one of the largest prisons in the world (1999) by Kiran Bedi^[45]
• "What Went Wrong?", collection of The fortnightly column written by Kiran Bedi.
• The Motivating Bedi by Kiran Bedi.^[10]
• Government@net: new governance opportunities for India(2001) by Kiran Bedi, Sandeep Srivastava and Parminder Jeet Singh^[46]
• As I see-(2005) by Kiran Bedi^[47]
• Himmat Hai by Kiran Bedi^[48]

See also[link]

• Jan Lokpal Bill

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kiran Bedi

• Kiran Bedi Official Website
• Kiran Bedi Blog
• Safer India Official website
• India Police
• Navjyoti India Foundation website
• Aap Ki Kachehri Kiran Ke Saath
• TED talk: Kiran Bedi: A police chief with a difference