Lalu Prasad Yadav charged with violating jail manual; PIL filed in Jharkhand HC

Incarcerated RJD president Lalu Prasad, who has been convicted and imprisoned in fodder scam, has been charged with violating jail manual. A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Jharkhand High Court requesting the HC that the convicted leader should be sent to Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi, and not be allowed to stay in the hospital or the hospital director’s house.

Lalu was jailed on December 23, 2017 after the CBI court in Ranchi convicted him in the multi-crore fodder scam. He was later shifted to Mumbai and New Delhi for treatment of multiple ailments. Eventually, he was shifted to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, where he was recuperating under the observation of senior doctors.

However, last month, due to surge in Covid-19 cases in RIMS, the doctors recommended that the RJD president be shifted to the RIMS director’s bungalow as a precautionary measure. Incidentally, RIMS director’s house was vacant as he had retired recently.

Soon after Lalu was shifted from RIMS paying ward to the RIMS director’s house, every day there was a beeline of supporters and ticket-seekers for the Bihar Assembly elections.

The BJP raised the issue of "VIP treatment to a convict" and charged that since RJD was part of the Hemant Soren regime, so the Jharkhand Government had turned a blind eye towards flouting of norms.

On Monday, a PIL was filed in the Jharkhand HC with a prayer that the convicted person should be lodged in the jail and not at someone’s house. “Lalu has been flagrantly violating jail manual norms by holding meetings at the RIMS director’s house. All the convicted persons should be treated at par. But what Lalu is doing is violation of Article 14 of the Constitution,” said Manoj Tandon, the lawyer representing the petitioner Manoj Kumar.