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Jails in India are generally no better than dungeons. Thousands of men and women are under-trials waiting for years for the courts to decide their fate. Many of them have been languishing for years because of the slow judicial process. The arrears in the courts are so huge that even petty crimes cannot be disposed of in a hurry- the result is that hundreds are spending their years in cells confined with hardened criminals because there is none to bail them out, even if the bail amount is a paltry Rs 500; the pile-on of pending cases in courts is only matched by the pile-on in jails. A telling, if chilling, example is that of that unfortunate man in Assam who was thrown behind bars when he was a young man and was there for decades without his case ever coming up before a court until he was released because of media glare. By the time he saw the open skies he had turned old and feeble, his mind a little unhinged.
Amid such distressing scene, one can find a few influential men, finally nabbed by the long arm of the law, for whom a jail sentence is not all that distressing. The recent elections focused on many such characters. Take the case of Mitrasen Yadav who lent a helping hand for his party, a co-accused in murder case who enjoyed presidential pardon after being given life imprisonment, later accused of cheating, dacoity and rioting is no stranger to jail. He is one of the VIPs of Indian jails.
Amarmani Tripathi, prime accused in poetess Madhumita Shukla murder case, addressed a public meeting in Lakshmipur assembly segment over a mobile phone from inside Dehradun jail. Another Politician, Abhay Singh with a known criminal background, conducted a meeting of his supporters inside the jail working out a strategy for the election campaign of his wife. He was also accused of giving threatening calls to voters from inside the prison. That he is an accused in several murder cases is in fact his card of notoriety as well as influence brought about by fear. Yet another don, who found virtue in politician's clothes, was reported to have been constantly sending "messages" to voters to vote for him.
A report prepared at the instance of the Allahabad High Court showed a long list of criminal cases pending against politicians, the longest dating back to 22 years. What was more alarming, the status of a number of criminal cases was not known and the State Government admitted to the court that the case files against some Members of Parliament and members of Legislative Assembly were missing. The cases relate to rioting, murder including the killing of Manjunath, the official who sought to expose the petrol adulteration scam and the nexus with politicians.
For influential politicians and others, jail is no barrier to their normal lives. A raid in Meerut Jail recently led to recovery of cell phones and other prohibited items. The recovery led to a fight between to police and the inmates of the high-security prison. The inmates injured several policemen and snatched back the cell phones and other articles seized from them. Selling unauthorized and contraband items inside the jail, for a heavy price, is common. Cigarette could cost Rs 20 a stick, a meal of the inmate's choice, Rs500, a local call Rs 20 and Rs 100.
The former U.P. Minister, Amarmani Tripathi, serving his sentence in jail for murdering his mistress is reported to have hosted a wedding anniversary bash for a co-accused in the murder case inside the jail State Minister's comment on this was "you can't stop anyone from celebrating an occasion concerning him, his family or near and dear ones- within the premises of the jail. As per my knowledge, there was no violation of the Jail Manual."
Three men, who have been sentenced to death recently for the murder of former Punjab Chief Minister, Beant Singh, had escaped from jail three years ago. Inspection of the jail later showed that these men were not only leading a luxurious life but they had also enclosed their cells in a way that their activities inside the cell could not be observed. Thus they had managed to dig a tunnel and escape. That they were later arrested is another story.
As the former director of Central bureau of investigation, Mr. Joginder Singh, points out, the escape of Phoolan Devi's killers from high security Tihar Jail and other similar escapes of prisoners highlight the ineptitude and complicity of jail staff. Tihar jail is a complex of seven prisons, having a capacity of 4000 prisoners. But actually there are more than 12000 prisoners lodged there. So crowded it had become that there were some avoidable deaths due to intense humidity, which prompted the High Court to order the release of under trials lodged there for petty crimes.
Jails in India continue to be governed by an 1894 law enacted by the British, with the clear objective of giving the native the treatment they deserved. All major efforts at reforms have been superficial and do not effectively tackle the basic problems of an Indian jail house. Indira Gandhi's incarceration in jail after the emergency apparently gave her an insight into the conditions in jails which led to her appointing as soon as she came back to power, the Mullah Committee to suggest changes in the system after a national review. The committee recommended that the Constitution be amended to shift the subject of prisons from the State to the Concurrent List. This did not happen since the States were determined not to part with any of the power given to them by the Constitution. The result is that the centre cannot deal directly with prison to prison. So much so, that under the jail Manual in Bihar, foreign national lodged in prison are entitled to better treatment than Indians.
The overall result of this collective neglect of jails is over-crowding. According to the National Human Rights Commission, 225,817of 304, 893 of the total prison population of the country comprises those awaiting under trial at the time of the report commissioned by it was reported. No wonder then that prisons turn out more hardened criminals than reformed human beings. | |
According
to the National Human Rights Commission, 225,817of 304, 893 of the total
prison population of the country comprises those awaiting trial. All
inhabitants continue to be governed by rules enacted by the British in
1894 to gives the Indians the treatment that they deserved. This does
not mean that there is not a creamy layer of prisoners. The influential
and the rich can have the food of their choice as well as pursue their
chosen lifestyle.
