Samhit was spending his life as an undertrial prisoner and abstained from connecting to his family through the phone call systems in jail. All that was required to fulfil the need was some amount of money in the pockets of cops. On the other hand, when Samhit’s family had a visit the prison to meet their son, they carried a handbag full of fruits for which each cop standing for a security check-up sought money to permit them to carry the eatables to Samhit. Not cooperating would lead to undignified treatment among the other members in the queue, who too were waiting for their turn to meet their kin in prison. The above-narrated scenario is a common phenomenon in most Indian prisons.
Seeking human rights is a part of legal awareness and part of awareness about one’s own rights. But the most ignored and least known matter of the right is the right of prisoners. The significant fact is the lack of awareness among the masses about jail regulations and also a fear of ill-treatment of their kin in the prison in case of their lack of cooperation.
Prison/Jail is a space for self-retrospection and a time given for the culprits to come out as a new person abstaining from past crimes. But prison space also includes undertrials who spend their precious lives without being proven as a culprit. In such a case, a prisoner either a convict or an undertrial cannot stop having their basic fundamental rights. The significance of this is proven through the continued fight for the voting right of prisoners.
Generally, whenever the question of fulfilling the requirements of a prisoner arrives we assume, they are jailed and so seeking any facility in such circumstances is not to be expected. But unfortunately in such a state of mind what we tend to forget is prisoners too are no exception to basic human rights, which may include facilities from sanitation, health care and also twice-a-week phone call with family.
The ignorance of rights among the masses is like paving way for the prison administration to turn corrupt and also cheat on their own professional oath. And so seek the opportunities, knock the path and conquer the justice.
