Shillong,May 15: A convict was found hanging inside the Jowai prison on May 14 morning.
The deceased has been identified as 40-year- old John Challam, a resident of Nartiang village.
As there are media reports of suicide, the authorities have not given any information as to what the convict used for committing suicide by saying that the inquiry is on and specific details are not available.
As per reports, the convict committed suicide by hanging at the toilet of the special cell.
He was convicted by the court on May 13 for culpable homicide by sessions judge, West Jaintia Hills for 5 years and 8 months under section 304 part II IPC.
The magistrate carried out inquest followed by postmortem.
Nothing official about suicide
West Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner L Garod said he has not received any official confirmation whether it was a suicide case as ‘some are only verbally saying so’.
“We have fulfilled the formality as per the guidelines of National Human Right Commission”, he said.
According to an official of Jowai prison, the convict was lodged in the special cell on May 13 for isolation for five days for Covid and he was found hanging the next day morning.
“Usually we give counselling for the convicts once they enter the prison but we don’t know the reason as to what led to the current incident” the official said.
No CCTV in special cell
The Jowai prison has CCTV only outside and not inside the special cell, the official added.
