A
team of nine students and one faculty from Amity Legal Aid Cell, Amity Law
School, AUUP visited Central Jail No. 5 of Tihar Prisons on 19th
Sept, 2012. The main objective of the jail visit was to review and kick-start
the Cell’s Prison Legal Aid Programme.
The
team comprised of Asst. Prof. Utkarsh Yadav along with the following student
members:
1. Shekhar
Banerjee
2. Arnab
Ghosal
3. Tanmoy
Sukul
4. Raunak
Satpathy
5. Ishan
Tewari
6. Apoorva
Singh
7. Devika
Gulati
8. Ruchir
Goenka
9. Purva
Sethi
The
team arrived at Tihar Prisons Complex at 1100hrs and were accompanied inside
Jail No. 5 by jail superintendant Mr. B.R. Meena. Once inside, the team got a
rare opportunity to get an insight into the life of an inmate.
Asia’s
largest Prison complex follows the reformative principle of punishment,
wherein, every inmate is given the opportunity to start afresh a new life by
acquiring the necessary required skills. The objective of this institution is to convert inmates into normal members of the
society, providing them with useful skills in order to rehabilitate and reform
them. The inmates are encouraged to work in the prison’s numerous
factories, giving them the chance to acquire skills required to manufacture
different products like shoes, detergent, soaps, incense, pottery, food items
etc., hence, helping them build a base for an honest livelihood after
completion of their sentences. The inmates are paid for their work in these
factories, which they can use after their release. Inmates have access to
various recreational facilities like sports, music, etc., and those interested
in fulfilling their educational dreams can do so by enrolling into the numerous
courses offered at Tihar. After completion of these courses, the inmates are
handed Degrees by Indira Gandhi National Open University, and are then put on
placements. One inmate has been known to have held forty four Degrees, while
another reported a pay package of 9 Lakhs per annum.
Reformation
can never be possible without properly nurturing the mind, and hence, Tihar
also provides for extracurricular activities by organising Yoga and Vipassana
Meditation camps, with the help of organisations like Art of Living, Divya Jyoti
Jagriti Sansthan, Kumari Ishwariya Vishvavidyalaya , etc.
Every
Jail in Tihar houses a Legal Aid Cell with
facilities for drafting, typing and dealing with bail applications, appeals,
revision etc. on behalf of the Jail inmates. It was noted by the team that
while the existence of such Cells was commendable, hardly any of the lawyers
appointed would ever show up in court on behalf of their clients. Thus, not
many of the inmates were happy with the working of the Cell. The team expressed
their interest in working with under trials in order to fast forward their bail
applications and reduce the overwhelming population of the prison. To this, the
Prison Welfare Officer suggested that Amity Legal Aid Cell tie up with Delhi
Legal Services Authority to fulfil this objective.
The
team members made it a point to question the Jail Superintendent and Welfare
Officer on various issues relating from prisoner living conditions to security
systems installed to welfare provisions for family members. After a long interactive
session, the visit was concluded and with a vote of thanks to the Jail
Superintendant and Law Officer, the team left the Prison Complex at 1330hrs.
-
Compiled by
Shekhar Banerjee
Convenor,
Amity Legal Aid Cell
