Page 38 - 30NOV2019E

OpiniOn
dilemmas
HumrA
QurAISHI
The Delhi-based writer
and columnist’s books
include Kashmir: The
Untold Story. She co-
authored a series of
writings with the late
Khushwant Singh and
her short stories are
part of anthologies.
The views expressed
are her own
A large number
of under-trials
languish in jails
even after they
are granted bail
because they are
unable to raise the
surety amount. In
this context, we
should consider the
release of under-
trials on personal
bonds
Indian prisoners living
in misery and agony
Things will change for better if several of the jailed political prisoners
of the day write details of what’s taking place in the country’s prisons
along with their personal experience
ach time I hear the pre- litical rulers would have tried to connect
sent day politicians talking with the jailed inmates, at least in terms
about ‘development’, I wish of reforms, life of the prisoners would
we could have peeped into have improved by now. There should be
insides of Indian jails to see expansion of the very concept and idea of
E what’s been happening in open jails. Let the jailed men and women
there. Are traces or signs of development breath fresh air. Though they have com- degree) of transparency to what’s tak- reads through, ground realities of that
reaching in there ? mitted crimes, it does not give any state
Yes, as citizens of the country we the sanction to throttle them.
should know what is happening be- Way back in 2003, the then chairman
hind those high walls with the inmates of National Human Rights Commission,
languishing inside with cut-off from the Justice AS Anand, had focused on the
world. Not to overlook this vital infomra- dismal conditions of the jails and inmates
tion that almost seventy-five percent had faced. During my interviews with
of the imprisoned are under-trials and him, he had detailed the congestion cum
technically innocent. Yet, they sit impris- overcrowding scenarios in prisons, also
oned for years at a stretch. the trauma faced by the under-trials
We all know that how ‘framed’ men because of the delay and hurdles in get-
and women had spent years as under- ting bail.
trials in the Indian jails and prisons until To quote Justice AS Anand from an
they were proven innocent and released interview given to me in 2003, “Yes,
by court orders. For instance, in July 2019, nearly 75 percent of our jail population
five Kashmiri prisoners were released consists of under-trials, many of whom
after 23 years of imprisonment without are innocent. A large number of under-
trials languish in jails even after they are
any bail or parole by the Rajasthan High
court. In the end, they were found and granted bail because they are unable to
declared innocent by the High court. raise the surety amount. In this context,
we should consider the release of under-
This is one of the reasons which make
most prisoners frustrated and disgusted trials on personal bonds.”
Justice Anand had also focused on the
against the system. Even, many tries to plight of the women prisoners. He had
break free only to be imprisoned once
again. We have not even bothered to mentioned about two specific jails where
study why inmates try to break free women prisoners complained of the
unavailability of sanitary napkins leading
from prison hellholes. Perhaps, they are
unable to cope with the overdose of jail to poor menstrual hygiene.
Should not we, the not-so-jailed
treatment and no longer pick up the question on why jails and prisons are not
courage to talk about the trauma and
stress they undergo. Talk to whom? To been developed and spruced up along
the jailers who are perhaps themselves the developmental propaganda? Where
is the transparency in the treatment
bound by the ruthlessness in the very
system? meted out to the jailed? Why shouldn’t
Tell me, where is the required focus on non-governmental agencies are not al-
those languishing in the jails? If the po- lowed to carry out investigative probes?
38
jail REFORMS
• Reforms needed Jails in India remain crowded
as few States have implemented reforms
twenty-five, were arrested later and
taken to Naini Jail.”
In this book, there is no mention of
physical tortures inflicted on Vijaya
Lakshmi Pandit but then as she writes
in the preface, “This little diary does not
attempt to record all the events which
took place during my last term of im-
How is it getting easy for the police One of the recent books that I have prisonment... the treatment given to me
and agencies to arrest an innocent and read recently is ‘Prison Days’ (Speaking and to those shared the barrack with
frame charges on him due to which the Tiger) by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, with a me was according to the prison stand-
person languishes as an under-trial for foreword by her daughter, Nayantara ards, very lenient — the reader must
many years? Sahgal. This prison diary was written not imagine that others were equally
Can there be some degree (not third by her in the early1940s and as one well treated. When the truth about that
unhappy period is made known many
ing place inside those high walls? Also, historic phase stands out. Focus on the grim stories will come to light, but that
how I wish that several of the jailed hundreds of people who were impris- time is still far away.”
political prisoners of the day to write oned by the British. And, these included One would wonder after reading
details on what’s taking place in their Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and members through this book that there is an at-
jails, their jailed life. Let’s not overlook of his family. tempt by the present rulers of the day
the fact that in those yesteryears, best To quote Nayantara Sahgal from the to bypass the role played by Nehru’s en-
works were authored by the political foreword: “My mother, Vijaya Lakshmi tire clan in the freedom struggle of this
prisoners when they sat in jails. Pandit, wrote this prison diary during country. Should the rulers of the day
Let us not bypass the core fact to her third and last imprisonment under intrude into our history and trample
the jailed — they are a part and parcel British rule. It begins on 12 August 1942, upon the crusade undertaken by the
of the society and system that is only six days before her forty-second birth- who’s who of that era to fight the British
furthering the crime graph and not day. World War11 was on, Allahabad, till we attained our freedom? Can the
lessening it. Aren’t we, as a collective like the rest of the country was under country’s history and historical turns
lot, to be blamed for this. Aren’t many military rule. Arrest and imprisonment be twisted by narrow political whims
amongst us pushing the vulnerable to- took place without trial. Several lorries and fancies? And, how I wish the in-
wards crime and violence? Why aren’t filled with armed policemen arrived mates languishing in India’s prisons to
we giving as much focus to the jailed lot that night at Anand Bhawan at 2 a.m. to pen diaries on their life accounts.
as we are giving to the not- so - jailed
Several books have been written
arrest one lone, unarmed woman, who,
amongst us? along with her husband, Ranjit Sitaram by the former prisoners in last few
connected aspect — Where are the Pandit, and her brother Jawaharlal years on disparities and biases
This brings me to focus on another
that dominate life behind the high
Nehru, had committed her life to the
prison diaries of the day? Why don’t non-violent fight to free India from walls. These books bare harsh ‘jail’
political prisoners write diaries, so British rule under the leadership of Ma- truths. Must reads are — Anjum
hatma Gandhi…My father was already
that we know what’s taking place in
Zamarud Habib’s ‘Prisoner No. 100’
those hell holes? Are prisoners of the a prisoner in the Naini Central jail in (Zubaan),Mohammad Aamir Khan’s
day discouraged from offloading their Allahabad, where she was taken, and ‘Framed As A Terrorist’( Speaking Tiger)
he would later be transferred to a jail in Abdul Wahid Shaikh’s Begunah Qaidi
everyday experiences or inner most
thoughts and emotions? Are these Bareilly, where he would fall mortally (Pharos Media), Mufti Abdul Qayyum
‘caged’ men and women reduced to ill, and finally be released only to die. Ahmad Husain Mansuri’s ‘I Am A Mufti
& I Am Not A Terrorist - 11 Years
such levels of hopelessness that they do My uncle was imprisoned ‘somewhere
not want to pen down? Why comput- in India’. It was not made public until Behind the Bars ’ (Published by Jamat
ers and laptops are not available in the much later that he and other leaders Ulama Ahmedabad and Maharashtra),
Iftikhar Gilani’s ‘My Days in Prison’
of the Indian National Congress were
prisons in the times of ‘development’?
Also, is there any basic freedom for held in the Ahmednagar Fort. My older (Penguin ).
the imprisoned to write fearlessly and
sister, Chandralekha, aged eighteen
freely? and my cousin, Indira Gandhi, aged letters@tehelka.com
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