Jailbreak: India

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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

2013: escape of criminals from police custody

In '13, 319% rise in criminals escaping police custody

Deeptiman.Tiwary@timesgroup.com New Delhi:

The Times of India Jul 14 2014

In a worrying indication of poor lock-up security and laxity of policemen, there was a 319% jump in incidents of escape of criminals from police custody in 2013. With 1,169 prisoners hoodwinking men in khaki in 2013, the year has seen roughly more than thrice the number of criminals escaping from police custody as compared to 2011 and 2012. In 2012, this figure stood at merely 279, while in 2011, it was 322.

According to the latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau, 238 escapees in 2013 were involved in lock-up breaks, while 931 escaped while being taken to court or in transit from one police station to another. MP and Maharashtra, which have both seen hardcore terrorists escaping from prison and police custody last year, top the list of states with the most number of escapes. While 165 criminals escaped from police custody in MP, 147 escaped in Maharashtra.

Uttar Pradesh, which has generally topped the charts in police custody escapes both in 2011 and 2012, saw a jump of over 200%, but with 124 escapes, was placed third in the list.

Last year, six alleged terrorists associated SIMI escaped from Khandwa jail in MP. Maharashtra had its share of embarrassment with the prime accused in the 2008 Gujarat blasts, IM operative Afzal Usmani, escaping from police custody while being taken to court.

All of them were arrested later. The data shows that in 2013, of the 1,169 criminals who escaped, 868 were re-arrested. MP nabbed 120 of the 165 criminals who escaped, while Maharashtra caught 107 of the 147 who escaped.

UP, on the other hand, re-arrested 85 of the 124 criminals who escaped, making it one of the worst-performing states on this count.

A senior police officer said, “The laxity on part of police comes with the familiarity that the criminal generates being taken to court or elsewhere by the same policemen over and over again. The criminal sometimes take advantage of this.“