Kapurthala, May 24: Security forces deployed tear gas canisters and applied cane-charge tactics to suppress a large-scale disturbance inside the Kapurthala modern jail late Saturday night, law enforcement officials confirmed Sunday.
The emergency response was triggered after a localized altercation inside Block 4 rapidly escalated, drawing roughly 100 to 150 prisoners out of their designated residential quarters. Senior police officials stated that the rioting inmates engaged in widespread hooliganism, climbed onto facility rooftops, and set fire to piles of clothing within the cellblock. Jail administration personnel who initially attempted to separate the fighting factions were targeted in subsequent scuffles, prompting the immediate deployment of heavily armed police reinforcements to secure the perimeter.
Medical teams reported that three inmates sustained injuries during the enforcement action, with two individuals hurt by defensive cane-charges and a third transferred to the local civil hospital after being struck by a tear gas shell.
“Police used tear gas shells and resorted to cane-charge to control the situation,” a senior officer stated, adding that no security personnel or custodial staff sustained injuries during the tactical clearance operations.
DIG Jalandhar Range Naveen Singla stated that all participating inmates were systematically pushed back into their secure units, where an immediate physical roll call was executed. Singla maintained that despite high initial volatility, the containment strategy prevented any inmate escapes, with all prisoners accounted for inside the complex. Investigators noted that the disturbance remained confined to a single sector of the vast facility, which currently holds between 3,000 and 4,000 inmates across 12 distinct housing blocks.
