Not allowed to tie rakhis to their brothers in jail, women stage road blockade in Indore

Indore: Angry over not being allowed to tie rakhis to their brothers lodged in the Central Jail here, a group of women briefly staged a road blockade in front of the prison in protest on Thursday.

Eyewitnesses said a large number of women gathered outside the Central Jail to tie rakhis to their incarcerated brothers on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

However, when the prison authorities denied them permission to enter the building, the women got annoyed and blocked traffic on the road in front of the jail, they said.

Police pacified the agitating women following which they lifted the road blockade.

Central Jail superintendent Alka Sonkar said higher officials had not issued any order to allow women to meet their brothers for tying rakhis on the occasion of the Raksha Bandhan festival.

"We collected the rakhis from these women and got them tied to their brothers through female staffers of the prison," Sonkar said.

The superintendent said because of the COVID-19 pandemic, on the occasion of Eid festival also prisoners were not allowed to meet their family members.