ENTRY BARRED: A guard at the State Prison for Women in Hyderabad explaining a point to members of the State Commission for Women on Wednesday, when they tried to enter the prison. - Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: The visit of print and electronic mediapersons and the State Women's Commission members to the State Prison for Women, Chanchalguda, ended in a fiasco on Wednesday.

While the group of mediapersons turned up at the appointed hour at 10.30 a.m. on the invitation of the Commission members, their efforts to go inside the prison fell flat. The Commission members were not allowed to take the media contingent into the prison and it was conveyed to them that they needed clearance from Director-General of Prisons M.A. Basith.

The Superintendent of the Jail promptly posted a guard to keep the mediapersons off the premises, citing security reasons.

Effort to contact DG

The commission members N.Padmaja Reddy (Chittoor), K.Renuka Reddy (Mahbubnagar), Majji Sarada (Srikakulam) who were apparently not aware of the procedure involved before inviting mediapersons, tried to contact the DG who was at a retreat meeting.

They maintained that the effort was to study the prevailing conditions of women in hostels, jails, industries, institutions in every district and chose the Chanchalguda women's jail. Whether the beefed up security was because of high profile prisoner like Monica Bedi lodged in the jail or the reluctance of the authorities to let the inmates interact with the Commission members in the presence of the media, the visit did not serve the purpose for the Commission as well as the media.

Ironically, the Chairperson of the State Commission for Women, Mary Ravindranath, when contacted, said she was not aware of the commission members' programme at the jail.

After waiting in vain till 12.30 pm, the mediapersons left the premises, as the commission members lodged themselves in the superintendent's office and tried to contact the DG.

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