ITAHARI: It has been revealed that an inmate of the regional jail in Jhumka has been bearing physical torture by fellow prisoners for the past few weeks.

A gang of 15, including Tiger Rai, leader of internal administration, had been thrashing Bhola Mehta (42) of Dumraha VDC-7, who has been there since last year on an arms possession charge.

According to Mehta, Sundar Chaudhari, Krishna Danuwar, Subash and Santosh, among others, have been torturing him physically for some weeks. He said they often thrashed him with bamboo canes and domestic weapons.

The victim said the jail administration came to know about the incident only when his health condition deteriorated due to the torture.

Bruised all over the body, Mehta has been taken out of the prison at the initiation of the Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League in Area No 6. He said the security situation of prison was poor and added other prisoners like him had also been unable to express their grief due to the tormentors' fear. Mehta accused the jail administration of not being serious about the security of the inmates. He revealed that the security personnel protected the Naike(leader). ''The inmates are compelled to suppress their plight,'' he said.

Inmate Arjun Tamang

was killed in the jail five months ago after a gang of prisoners thrashed him. The administration had promised to tighten security after the incident. Jailer Bhojraj Regmi admitted that Rai's group had thrashed Mehta. He said it was difficult for them to find the underlying reality about the prisoners' relation since they did not receive first-hand information.