Nearly 100 BJP workers storm jail in Mangaluru over mobile jammers, detained

Mangaluru: A large group of BJP workers on Saturday stormed into the district jail here allegedly over placement of mobile jammers following which nearly 100 of them were detained, officials said.

During the confrontation a woman corporator was pushed against the wall, leaving her injured, they said.

According to the police, the group approached the jail premises under the pretext of deactivating the mobile signal jammer set up inside the prison. When the jail authorities could not respond to their pleas in time, the party workers got enraged and went berserk in the jail premises.

The jail authorities said that the party workers led by Mangaluru South Constituency MLA Vedavyas Kamath tried to break open the main door of the jail. However, the police prevented them from entering the jail.

Speaking to PTI, MLA Kamath said, “There is something sinister going on inside the jail, What is the need for a jammer set up inside the jail when the mobile phones were banned inside it? We understand some officials need to use their phones, which could be done without any hindrance.

"The jammer was preventing normal cellular telephony in and around a 3-kilometer radius in the core city area, affecting business transactions, like payments by UPI and debit cards. Even the district court is within the range of the jammer and advocates, court officials and judges are prevented from using cellular phones," he added.

“We had asked the jail authorities on Wednesday to deactivate the jammer and gave two days time for them to put off the jammer. Following people's complaint about it, we decided to do it ourselves on Saturday. I will further investigate and bring all the jail officials to the book if they do not deactivate the jammer," Kamath said.

According to him, the very act of jamming the mobile signals inside the jail highlights the jail authorities' inability to control the inmates. This is serious lapse on part of the jail authorities will be brought to the notice of the Director General of Police (prisons) and also to the notice of the Home Minister G Parameshwara.