Ranchi jail sexual assault allegations involving a 20-year-old former undertrial prisoner have prompted Jharkhand Assembly Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi to demand the suspension of senior prison officials, transfer of the accused prisoners and an independent investigation.
Marandi said the case, linked to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Hotwar, involved allegations that the former prisoner was subjected to collective sexual violence on three occasions, forcibly given an intoxicating substance and physically assaulted. He described the allegations as serious and said they raised questions about the functioning of the prison administration.
According to the report, the allegations recorded in the First Information Report include claims that a written complaint by the prisoner was torn up by a ward in-charge, that treatment was denied at the jail hospital despite bleeding, and that no medical examination was conducted when the prisoner was released. These claims have been attributed to the FIR and have not been independently established in the supplied report.
Marandi has demanded that all officials connected with the jail be suspended and that Jail Inspector General Sudarshan Prasad Mandal be removed and suspended pending action. He also called for the accused prisoners to be shifted to other jails, arguing that their continued presence could allow them to influence the alleged victim, witnesses or evidence.
The opposition leader questioned the delay in registering the case. He said the FIR stated that police received information on 4 November, but the case was registered eight days later. Marandi also sought an independent legal review of whether the sections applied in the case adequately reflect the seriousness of the allegations.
The demands extend beyond the immediate incident. Marandi referred to another case that surfaced in May 2026 involving the alleged sexual exploitation and pregnancy of a woman prisoner at the same jail. He said the recurrence of allegations at Hotwar required an independent inquiry into any possible protection provided to those responsible.
He has also called for the immediate preservation of CCTV footage, duty registers, medical records and all documents connected with complaints made at the jail. Protection for the former prisoner and the person’s family was among the measures he sought.
The allegations place the focus on the accountability systems inside a high-security custodial institution. Complaint handling, access to medical care, preservation of surveillance records and the timing of police action are all central to establishing what occurred. The supplied report does not include a response from the prison department, the police, the jail authorities or the accused prisoners.
The next steps will depend on the investigation into the FIR, the preservation of the records identified by Marandi and any action taken by the state government or prison authorities in response to the demands.
