Tihar Jail Director General (Prisons), Sanjay Beniwal, assured on Tuesday that food is provided punctually to all inmates, and any delay is due to necessary checks. Addressing the Aam Aadmi Party’s claim about the Delhi Chief Minister not receiving insulin, he mentioned overseeing 900-1000 inmates with diabetes and dismissed concerns, stating, “These are not issues, but if people raise it for political issues, I do not enter into that.”
Regarding meal timings and special considerations, he explained, “There is a fixed time for giving food and through a court order, he gets home food. If it takes 5 to 7 minutes till the time it reaches him after checking, it is bound to happen.” Beniwal emphasized managing diabetic patients among the inmate population daily.
He further disclosed the presence of a visiting judge in each jail to inspect facilities and address inmates’ grievances. “Every jail has a visiting judge who checks whether everyone has the health facilities they should have, whether there is medicine, whether the place where the inmates sleep is clean, whether the bathroom is clean, and whether they have access to legal redressal,” he elaborated.
Responding to Arvind Kejriwal’s letter to the Tihar Jail Superintendent, Beniwal stated, “There are 20,000 people living here with me, everyone has some or the other problem, some real, some perceived, but if there are problems, then we have to arrange for their redressal.”
Earlier, Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, had accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre of monitoring her husband’s every meal and attempting to harm him by denying insulin in jail. The Tihar Jail Administration submitted a report to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, refuting claims of insulin denial and providing details of Kejriwal’s health status.
Kejriwal’s plea for insulin administration and daily doctor consultations via video conferencing due to his acute diabetes was reserved for an order by the Rouse Avenue Court. He was arrested by the ED on March 21 in the Delhi Excise Policy case, with his judicial custody extended until April 23 by the trial court on April 15. The ED alleged the Aam Adami Party as the primary beneficiary of the proceeds of crime from the alleged liquor scam.
