logo
Telangana Prisons dept. tightens the bars with security, tech and staff audit

Telangana Prisons dept. tightens the bars with security, tech and staff audit

The Hindu27-04-2025
In a move to improve prison security and operational standards, the Telangana Prisons Department has launched a State-wide security and technology audit across all correctional facilities.
The comprehensive audit covers central prisons, district jails, special prisons for women, special sub jails and sub jails across Telangana. The key areas include main gate security with special attention to the functionality of scanners, search procedures, visitor identity verification, and entry record maintenance. Surveillance systems are also under review, with auditors checking the extent of CCTV coverage, recording protocols and communication equipment usage.
Structural security measures such as the condition of perimeter walls, status of live wire systems and maintenance of watchtowers are being thoroughly inspected. Security equipment, including arms and ammunition, is being checked for proper maintenance and functionality.
Staff supervision is another major focus, with the auditing teams verifying duty rosters, assessing staff strength, and ensuring effective supervisory monitoring. Inmate management practices are under review to ensure proper segregation of high-risk, vulnerable, and psychiatric inmates. Additionally, routine and surprise searches are being monitored for their effectiveness in controlling contraband, with emphasis on the use of scanners and alarm procedures.
Health and hygiene standards within prisons are being evaluated through regular inmate health screenings, hygiene inspections, and checks on the availability of safe drinking water. Record management, including updates to the e-Prisons system, warrants, admission and release records, is also under scrutiny.
The audit extends to assessing welfare and rehabilitation initiatives, including literacy programmes, vocational training, grievance redressal mechanisms and library services. Further, incident documentation practices relating to escapes, deaths, and disaster management events are being reviewed to ensure comprehensive and timely reporting.
Infrastructure safety and emergency preparedness are integral components of the audit, with a view to ensuring that all facilities are equipped to handle emergencies effectively.
Senior prison officials have been tasked with the initiative, with DIGs auditing central prisons, superintendents overseeing district jails, and deputy superintendents assessing special sub jails and sub jails. Each team is visiting facilities to scrutinise critical aspects of prison management and security.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Indian educational institutions hit by over 2 lakh cyberattacks, 4 lakh data breaches in 9 months, reveals study
Indian educational institutions hit by over 2 lakh cyberattacks, 4 lakh data breaches in 9 months, reveals study

Hindustan Times

time6 hours ago

  • Hindustan Times

Indian educational institutions hit by over 2 lakh cyberattacks, 4 lakh data breaches in 9 months, reveals study

Indian educational institutions suffered more than two lakh cyberattacks and nearly four lakh data breaches in just nine months, a pilot study has revealed. The study, titled "Exploring Cyber Threats and Digital Risks to Indian Educational Institutions", said Indian educational institutions suffered more than two lakh cyberattacks and nearly four lakh data breaches in just nine months. () The study, titled "Exploring Cyber Threats and Digital Risks to Indian Educational Institutions", was conducted under CyberPeace Foundation's flagship e-Kawach initiative in collaboration with DELNET, Resecurity and Autobot Infosec. It was released on Wednesday along with the launch of the "Cyber First Responder" initiative, aimed at equipping students, faculty, librarians and staff with skills to counter cyber threats, deepfakes and misuse of artificial intelligence. Also read: CBSE conducts surprise inspections in 10 schools across five states and one UT The nine-month study, conducted between July 2023 and April 2024, found more than 8,000 unique usernames and 54,000 unique passwords being used in brute-force attacks. Commonly targeted usernames included "root" and "admin", while weak passwords, such as "123456" and "password", were frequently attempted. "Indian educational institutions are likely five times more vulnerable to data breaches than counterparts with stronger cyber practices," the report warned, adding that breaches could lead to impersonation of faculty, phishing attacks, deepfake content, theft of sensitive research data and leakage of exam papers. Vice Chancellor of National Law University-Delhi Prof. (Dr) G S Bajpai said resilience in the digital era means transforming systems in response to a disruption. DELNET director Dr Sangeeta Kaul called the Cyber First Responder initiative "a commitment to shaping, not just reacting to, change", while CyberPeace Foundation founder and global president Vineet Kumar described the report as a "wake-up call" for academic institutions. "Digitisation without cybersecurity is like building a house without doors or locks. Innovation cannot thrive without resilience," Kumar said, adding that the programme aims to create a first line of defence against cyber threats and AI abuse in academia.

Asim Munir wants to be guardian of the Middle East. He's fated to fail at home
Asim Munir wants to be guardian of the Middle East. He's fated to fail at home

The Print

time6 hours ago

  • The Print

Asim Munir wants to be guardian of the Middle East. He's fated to fail at home

Through the past week, residents of Pakistan's Bajaur, the northernmost and smallest of the seven territories which used to be called the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, had been negotiating to end the resurgence of violence in their area. Following the takeover of the region in 2008 by jihadists of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the army stepped in with a savage campaign that claimed the lives of thousands of people and forced some 3,00,000 people into refugee camps. For months, the killings continued, scholars John Braithwaite and Bina D'Costa have recorded . Afsana, who sang at wedding ceremonies to support her refugee family, was murdered in 2010. Ghazala Javed, another popular 24-year-old Pashto singer, was shot dead in Peshawar in the summer of 2012. The night was cold, eyewitnesses would later remember, when the men arrived at the home of Pashto folk dancer Shabana in Mingora, a city in Swat district. They hammered on the door until she came out. They ignored her mother's promises that she would never allow Shabana to sing and dance again and dragged her toward the Green Square. There, her body was found the next morning, riddled with bullets and her throat slit from end to end. She had been covered with a shroud of banknotes and her music CDs. Following days of talks last week, though, the TTP refused to pull back into Afghanistan. And helicopter gunships, artillery, and drones began hitting insurgent strongholds once again. A large number of people are back in refugee camps. The jihadists who used terror to stamp out the region's unique syncretic culture now hold real power—and have no intention of giving up their sharia-ruled emirate without a fight. The question is: As Field Marshal Asim Munir offers the West the partnership of the Pakistani military to fight distant battles against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, can he still win what's been called Pakistan's own Vietnam? Emirates of mud Looking back, the 2008 peace agreements were fated to collapse. The agreements were, journalist Daud Khattak has noted, signed between the Pakistan Army and the jihadists, excluding the traditional tribal leadership. The TTP's ranks were swelled by a new generation of prospectless young people, their guns an instrument to seize lands and extort money from businesses. Each emirate of mud ran on revenues it could seize through terror, and the TTP set itself up as the guardian of a mini-state. From the outset, the TTP stamped its authority on the region, marginalising the state. Girls' schools, an estimated 27 of them, were dynamited. Another 65 boys' schools were also levelled, as well as two colleges. The tenuous gains Bajaur residents had made were wiped out in less than six months. The TTP also moved rapidly to cash in on the spoils. Extortion replaced the normal tax structure. Among the key elements of Operation Sherdil, launched in 2008, was to separate the jihadists from their sources of income in the local economy. The plan worked, Braithwaite and D'Costa show—it worked disastrously well. Egg and poultry farming in Bajaur collapsed, with livestock being left for the stray dogs as owners fled. Thousands of shops in Anayat Kalli were burned down in artillery exchanges, as fighting between the military and the TTP escalated. Fruit orchards, which grew oranges, plums, peaches, apricots, and persimmons, had to be abandoned. The marble business, another important source of livelihood, collapsed. The TTP retreated into Afghanistan—only to return after the Islamic Emirate took power in Kabul in 2021. This time, Pakistan's ISI hoped, the Islamic Emirate would rein in the TTP. Turned out, it either couldn't or wouldn't. The cycle of violence erupted yet again. Local negotiators, who struggled to persuade both the TTP and the army to leave the area, were ignored by both sides. And the renewal of military operations has sparked off yet another refugee exodus. Little evidence exists that the strains between the military and the population are being contained. Last month, soldiers opened fire on protestors who had gathered at a military camp to voice anger over the killing of a seven-year-old girl in a mortar strike. Local soldiers responded by killing seven unarmed protestors, a leaked video established. Also read: Munir wants Pakistan military to be taken seriously. He was impressing Imran's supporters Roots of terror Like so many insurgencies in India and its neighbourhood, the jihadist rise in Bajaur was facilitated by the state. Following the march to war over Kashmir in 1947, tribals from the region were recruited to fight against Maharaja Hari Singh's forces. The military, civilian authorities, and religious scholars, all supported the effort, scholar Husain Haqqani has noted. These groups were also supported by the government of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who saw Islamists as a tool to undermine President Mohammad Daoud Khan's Left-leaning government in Afghanistan. This process, according to scholar Hussain Asaf, marked the emergence of a 'a dialectical relationship between Islam, Pakistan and the military. Without Islam, Pakistan would not have been able to come into existence; without Pakistan the military would not be able to exist; and without the military, Islam and Pakistan would be threatened. In perpetuating such a state, the military was perpetuating Islam.' The policy, however, had unintended consequences. A new class of conflict entrepreneur emerged in what was then known as the NWFP (North-West Frontier Province), today Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Equipped with Western arms and funded by Saudi Arabia and the CIA through the ISI, this new class of political leader swept aside traditional tribal hierarchies. From 1979, as refugees flowed into Bajaur to escape the Soviet intervention, the ISI set to work recruiting fighters from the camps. Later, in 1989, the leaders of seven Islamist parties met at Maidan in Lower Dir and formed the Tahrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi—organisation for the defence of the Prophet's law. Sufi Muhammad of the Jamat-e-Islami was appointed head of the new coalition. This coalition, scholars Kiramat Ullah, Muhammad Ayaz Khan, and Tariq Anwar Khan have written, marked the end of the traditional chiefdoms of Khar, Nawagai, and Pashat. It also choked the activities of pan-Pakistan political parties. Instead, the jihadist campaign in Afghanistan became the axis of politics in Bajaur. The killings of local residents in air strikes as well as General Pervez Musharraf's turn against the jihadists, later led these jihadists to take on the state. Faqeer Muhammad, the most prominent of these jihadist leaders, took control of the movement in 2008. A military operation forced him out—if at great cost to civilians—but the TTP was soon back, again staking claim to control of its little emirates. Also read: With nuke lunacy, Asim Munir joins Pakistan's Hall of Generals who swapped brains for bluster An arc of fire Since 2008, new democratic movements have sprung up across the region, seeking an end to the use of death squads, extrajudicial executions, and massive force by the military. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa saw the rise of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, which sought greater democratic rights and freedoms with the constitution of Pakistan. The military crushed it, though, fearing that the democratic movements might undermine the jihadist proxies through which it ruled the region. For Pakistan's military commanders, the jihadist allies were still partners—partners who might need to be coerced and disciplined, as the British had done in the colonial period—but allies nonetheless. The first 30 years of British rule in the Northwest, historian Elizabeth Kolsky records, saw more than 40 punitive expeditions in which crops were destroyed, livestock slaughtered, and entire villages burned to the ground. This is a strategy Pakistan is also pursuing in other violence-torn borderlands. The government has succeeded in having the Majeed Brigade—the most aggressive of the insurgent groups fighting under the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) umbrella—designated a terrorist group, but that hasn't changed reality much. Fierce fighting has been reported against Baloch groups operating from across the border in Iran's Zhob. The Pakistan Army claims 50 BLA personnel were shot dead in the latest operations, while nine of its own personnel fell in combat. Lacking political legitimacy and a genuine political constituency, Field Marshal Munir is fated to fail, just as his predecessors did. To contain insurgencies in 2009-2010, Zahid Ali Khan estimated that Pakistan committed some 1,40,000 army and Frontier Corps personnel. Those aren't sustainable numbers if Field Marshal Munir also has ambitions to emerge as the guardian of the Middle East. Finding a way forward needs the Pakistan Army to demonstrate not just tactical skills, but also a political will that ties leaders at the centre into meaningful alliances with representatives of the burning borderlands. There's little in the Pakistan Army's history, though, that suggests it has the imagination for such an enterprise. Praveen Swami is contributing editor at ThePrint. His X handle is @praveenswami. Views are personal. (Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)

'No Independence Day Celebration': Deadly Attacks, Blackouts Push Balochistan Into Security Crisis
'No Independence Day Celebration': Deadly Attacks, Blackouts Push Balochistan Into Security Crisis

News18

time11 hours ago

  • News18

'No Independence Day Celebration': Deadly Attacks, Blackouts Push Balochistan Into Security Crisis

Last Updated: Balochistan has been under an internet blackout for several days, while residents face severe mobility curbs and rising fears of violence. The security situation in Pakistan's largest province, Balochistan, has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks, with lawmakers and provincial officials warning of unprecedented restrictions on daily life. The province has been under an internet blackout for several days, while residents face severe mobility curbs and rising fears of violence. Speaking in the Senate, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) senator Kamran Murtaza painted a grim picture of the situation. He told the upper house that 'Balochistan has no internet since the last many days" and that the security climate has worsened to the point where local transport is unavailable after 5 pm. 'What's happening in Balochistan is not appropriate — from security to the basic need of electricity, the problems are getting worse day by day," Murtaza said. He further revealed that multiple areas had been declared 'no-go zones" due to threats from armed groups. Top provincial bureaucrats have also reportedly alerted the federal government to the worsening environment, citing intelligence-based security threats as the reason for cancelling Independence Day celebrations in several major district headquarters. According to these officials, even local government and town offices in sensitive districts avoided hosting events on August 14 to prevent potential militant attacks. The heightened security alert follows a series of deadly assaults on Pakistani security forces in the province. In one of the most significant recent incidents, Baloch separatist insurgents ambushed Pakistan Army vehicles in Washuk district earlier this week. At least nine soldiers, including a captain, were killed when gunmen opened fire on a military police van and a quick response force unit near Green Chowk in Basima. The attack also left several soldiers and civilians injured. Balochistan has long grappled with a separatist insurgency, which has intensified in recent years despite repeated security operations. Militant groups often target security convoys, infrastructure, and government installations, accusing Islamabad of exploiting the province's natural resources while neglecting local development. The mounting attacks have prompted increased troop deployments and intelligence operations, but have also led to sweeping restrictions that critics say are suffocating normal civilian life. Senator Murtaza's remarks in Parliament reflect growing political unease over the balance between security and civil liberties. With communications disrupted, public transport halted in the evenings, and celebrations curtailed, the people of Balochistan are facing a daily reality shaped by fear and uncertainty — a situation that lawmakers warn is eroding the writ of the state in the province. view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store