Monday, January 9 2006 13:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: The Patna High Court today (Jan 9,2006) directed the Centre and the Bihar Government to submit detailed reports by January 30 on the naxalite attack on Jehanabad jail on November 13 and action initiated after the incident.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice J N Bhatt and Justice R N Prasad sought reports from the two Governments on the 'operation jailbreak' by Communist Party of India (CPI) (Maoist) activists on November 13 night at Jehanabad in which nine persons were killed and over 380 inmates escaped.

The order came on a PIL by an NGO 'People's Watch' which claimed that the administration's failed to prevent the incident despite prior intelligence inputs and sought thecourt's directive for fool-proof security in jails to avoid recurrence of such incidents.

The bench specifically sought to know from the Centre about the timing of intelligence inputs provided to the state government about Naxalites' movement in Jehanabad on that dayFrom the State Government, the court sought a report on steps taken to prevent the incident after receiving the intelligence inputs. It also wanted to know about actions taken after the jailbreak like how many escapees returned to the prison and how many still remained at large, besides steps to strengthen the jail security.

The escapees included many CPI (Maoist) activists and those belonging to outlawed Ranvir Sena, a private militia of upper caste landlords. In response to the district administration's appeal, many inmates returned to the jail on their own, some surrendered in courts and a few others were arrested. But nearly 120 of them including the mastermind of the operation Ajay Kanu, self-styled zonal commander of the outfit remained at large.