Turns out that, “Sentence to imprisonment” is becoming more of a “sentence to rot in hell”.
Recent uproar about cognizance of crimes in Tihar Jail brings the age-old tradition of prisons out in the open once again.
It’s often seen that senior convicts sodomize other inmates. Targets, being newer inmates who are physically weak or don’t have substantial account balance or political influence. All of this happens with sheer team work of ‘Gangs of Jails’ and prison staff. Even the police officers are the perpetrators in some cases.
Reasons, being low self-restraint in sexual matters, resulting in this horrendous crime, accentuated by frustration and anger, fighting for survival, thereby making prison- a hell.
Sodomy has become the major cause of suicides in prison. While most inmates on bail, prefer being shot than being sent back, the infamous ‘Nirbhaya’ case accused ‘Ram Singh’ committed suicide because he was raped, as alleged by his father.
In her book ‘Prison inmates living with HIV in India’, Sayantani Guin presented numerous case studies on how and why HIV and STIs are on high rise due to unprotected sex (consensual or forceful) in prisons across India.
So, what can be done? Should one have to live with this?
Although, NHRC has issued notices to principle secretary (home) and director general (prison) Alok Verma to prepare a report on this matter, let’s see what all measures can help alleviate this issue.
- CCTVs should be installed in most vulnerable places in prisons.
- More family visits should be allowed so that convicts feel less frustrated.
- Prisons should be less crowded, so that there is lesser chances of crime and gang formation.
- Segregation of Under-trials and Convicts, as it has been seen that more number Under-trials are sodomized by actual convicts.
- Faster grievance redressal system, so that the crime rate inside prisons decrease.
- Conjugal visits should be allowed. This can lower sexual crime rate by a huge percentage inside prisons. In Jan 2015, Punjab and Haryana High court allowed conjugal visits according to ‘Right to life and personal liberty’ mentioned in constitution.
We talk about human rights for people living in the society,
We talk about reforms and rehabilitation,
We ostracize the criminals for a better society, hoping for a reformed person to come out of the prison after completing his term.
But this doesn’t seem to be enough.
Hope the government takes proper measures to ‘actually reform’ the convicts and save them from rotting in hell.
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