The local police in Jammu has registered a case against Vinod Kumar, a former Army jawan convicted of the murder of a colleague in Ladakh, for assaulting Pakistani prisoner Rana Sanaullah Haq in Kot Balwal jail, on the outskirts of Jammu.
The authorities immediately suspended jail superintendent Rajni Sehgal and her staff and ordered a probe after Friday morning’s attack.
“A probe has been ordered into the incident. It is an unfortunate incident,” said J&K minister of state for home Sajjad Kichloo. He added the probe would be headed by the “principal secretary, home (Suresh Kumar)”.
Mr Kichloo also said the jail superintendent and other subordinate staff have been suspended for “negligence of duty” and that DGP (prison) K. Rajindra Kumar has been asked to immediately review the security of Pakistani prisoners in jails in the state and ensure their security.
Official sources said all Pakistani prisoners in J&K are being segregated from other jail inmates as Friday’s attack is being seen as a retaliation to the attack on Sarabjit Singh in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail.
Sanaullah was targeted hours before Singh, who died in a Pakistani hospital on Thursday, was cremated with full state honours in his village in Punjab.
The attack took place in spite of the fact that the government had issued an advisory to strengthen security for Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails.
A government official said Sanaullah and Vinod Kumar got into an argument while smoking in the jail compound.