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OpiniOn

jail REFORMS
Indian prisoners living • Reforms needed Jails in India remain crowded

as few States have implemented reforms
in misery and agony

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