The Prison Paradox 

Inadequate prison security leads to preferential treatment for inmates, sparking protests and investigations in Karnataka's Parappana Agrahara.

In June this year, 29-year-old Nayan Soren was electrocuted while switching on a water pump in Venkatadri Layout, adjacent to the Central Prison Complex in Parappana Agrahara in the southeastern suburbs of the city. As he gasped for breath, those around him made desperate attempts to call an ambulance. But none succeeded as the area is impacted by “jammers” installed at the prison complex. After an inordinate delay, Nayan was taken to a hospital where he was declared “brought dead”.

Following this incident, residents in the areas around the prison complex affected by the Tower-Harmonics Call Blocking System (T-HCBS) system, which was installed in the prison in March 2024 to block mobile use by inmates, held multiple protests leading to multi-nodal meetings between residents, prison officials, telecom service providers (TSPs) and the Department of Telecommunication (DoT), but to no avail till date.

A prospective homebuyer in the layout, which is situated to the west of the prison complex, cancelled a nearly finalised property deal after encountering severe mobile network issues. He was concerned about the potential inconvenience poor phone connectivity would entail.

As this property deal unravelled, the media in Karnataka was agog with reports of prison inmates using mobile phones with impunity. A photograph of actor Darshan smoking, chatting with a coffee mug in hand, with rowdy sheeters around a teapoy on a lawn inside the prison, and a recording of a WhatsApp video call were shared widely, exposing not only the preferential treatment the actor got but also the access to mobile signals and internet on the premises.

Basavaraj Hemanoor, a resident of Venkatadri Layout, told The Hindu that the irony was that the T-HCBS was actually impacting the people staying in the vicinity of the prison rather than the jail inmates.

“Even making emergency calls is an ordeal. We cannot carry out any financial transactions as we don’t get OTPs. We cannot order food online. Our lives are crippled, but the prison inmates seem to be having a better life inside than us outside,” he said.

A day before the photograph and the video call recording went public on August 25, drawing outrage from media and people alike, over 100 investigators from the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Bengaluru City Police, raided the prison around 3 a.m. They were concerned about rowdy sheeters, jailed under the draconian Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, 2000 and Goonda Act, using mobile phones and running criminal syndicates from within the prison.