In a striking twist of fate, former district judge Giribala Singh, who once sent accused persons to prison through her judicial orders, entered the gates of Bhopal Central Jail as an inmate on Tuesday after a court remanded her to judicial custody in connection with the Twisha Sharma death case being probed by the CBI.
After being produced before the court, Singh and her son Samarth were taken into custody by police around 3.20 pm. The two reached Bhopal Central Jail around 4.30 pm, where prison formalities were completed before they were lodged in separate sections of the jail premises.
Singh, who served as Bhopal district judge between 2021 and 2023, has been housed in the women's ward, where around 125 women undertrials are currently lodged. She has been allotted undertrial no. 71. Her son has been accommodated in a separate section designated for male inmates. As undertrials, neither of them has been assigned a prisoner number, jail officials said.
Prison sources said Singh and her son were allowed to retain the clothes they were wearing when they arrived, as undertrial inmates are permitted to wear their own clothes. Around 5.30 pm, they were served the standard jail meal comprising roti, dal, rice and vegetable curry. Under prison rules, undertrials are not entitled to receive home-cooked food as a matter of routine.
The development comes a day after concerns were discussed in legal and prison circles over the possibility of Singh being lodged in the same prison where several inmates may have been convicted or sentenced during her tenure on the bench. Officials had pointed to the unusual security considerations involved in housing a former judicial officer in a regular prison environment.
However, a jail official downplayed such concerns. “As far as security is concerned, security of each and every inmate is equally important in jail. In the women’s ward, there is a separate security in-charge and other officials to ensure the safety of all inmates,” said a jail official on condition of anonymity.
