Girl bitten by drug dog at Belmarsh Prison

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-39914342
Toddler bitten by drug dog during Belmarsh Prison visit
41 minutes ago

The dog (not pictured) has been withdrawn from service

A toddler was bitten by a sniffer dog while she was visiting a relative in a high security jail in east London, it has emerged.
The young girl was injured by the drug patrol dog in Belmarsh Prison, Woolwich, on 31 March.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the incident had been reported to police and the dog withdrawn from service.
In 2015, the MoJ said there were more than 530 dogs deployed in prisons in England and Wales.
The Mirror reported the attack had taken place during a routine drugs test and the girl needed to undergo plastic surgery because of her injuries.
The MoJ said it could not release more details because of "purdah" rules in the run up to the general election.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdah_(pre-election_period)

What on earth is this "purdah" rule??  Never knew of it.   How much is being kept from us because of this  

It's hard to think what relevance this has to the upcoming General Election and why coverage of it is restricted.

I`ve never heard the word `purdah` used in connection with elections.

I`ve only ever heard it, and used it, for describing islamic women being `in purdah`.

There is a policy isn't there that anything that could be construed as promoting any particular party in the run-up to an election (apart from party political broadcasts of course) isn't allowed but I've never heard the word purdah used in that context.

I have  heard of this in regard to police officers and staff not being able to comment on things in the run up to the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, but I am struggling to see where it fits in with the reported incident