Guantanamo Bay-like prison to be built in Jammu and Kashmir, CM Mufti seeks Rs 7 crore from Centre

A Budgam court on May 25 had said that “situations like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay cannot be tolerated” in India.

New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir government has sought Rs 7 crore from the Centre to build a high-security prison exclusively for terrorists like the one in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The Centre had asked Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to build a separate jail in Srinagar to imprison convicted terrorists from Pakistan and those facing trial in terror cases in the wake of a report which said that terror convicts inside the jails are likely to persuade and radicalise petty criminals.

"The J&K government has agreed to the Centre's proposal and asked for Rs 7 crore last month (April) to build a separate jail exclusively for terrorists like the one in Guantanamo," The Telegraph has quoted a source in the Union Home Ministry as saying in May.

It further quoted a senior Home Ministry official as saying: “The security agencies had cited some examples where ordinary criminals joined terror outfits after being radicalised by terrorists inside jails".

The report came a day after a Budgam court on May 25 came down heavily on the Jammu and Kashmir Police for what it called the “extra-judicial detention” of separatist leader Masarat Alam and added that “situations like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay cannot be tolerated” in India.

In 2015, the Home Ministry had urged state governments to install CCTV cameras and mobile-phone jammers inside jails and keep a tab on high-risk prisoners.