Author: Anupam Thapa
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: July 8, 2006
Introduction: Life is a walk in the park for
the prison's rich inmates
It is the biggest prison of South East Asia.
Although Tihar jail has a sanctioned capacity of 5,648 prisoners, more than
13,000 are lodged here. Many of these are high profile prisoners-from Babloo
Srivastava (whose conviction this past week, means he'll be staying here for
a while) to Vikas Yadav, accused in the Nitish Katara murder case.
As the Capital awaits the arrival of Abu Salem,
currently lodged in Mumbai, HT caught up with an undertrial (now acquitted
from the courts), who was lodged in Jail Number 1 in Tihar for about two months
to find what life for VIP prisoners is like inside Tihar. This is his account:
Convicts rule Tihar
"The first day I entered Tihar, I was
in a state of shock. I had visited jails in Rajasthan and Punjab along with
friends, but those jails were nothing like this one. I could hardly sleep
the first night. No sooner had the clock struck five, I was woken up and put
in line to clean toilets. When I saw the state of the toilets just couldn't
do anything except want to puke.
The convicts, who are dressed in pure white
clothes, are the guys who actually rule the jails. One convict came to me
and told me that for a certain sum of money, I could have my way and wouldn't
have to do this job while I was here. The price? Rs 10,000 a month to live
a cool life without cleaning toilets or having to stand in line for food etc.
I agreed. But because I knew another high profile undertrial who intervened
on my behalf, I had to pay a discounted rate of only Rs 4,000 to a low ranked
prison official. The only problem was that, when his superior came to know
that I had paid, he too wanted his share. Once again, my friend intervened
and I was saved from paying up.
VIP undertrials and convicts stay in rooms,
which have no lock-up inside the jail premises. There are about four such
rooms and each room has a television. They have all the luxuries in life,
including a separate kitchen, a refrigerator, chef and servants. Outside their
room is a badminton court where they can play any time they like.
For the non VIPs, however, conditions at Tihar
are such that the greasy - and greedy - palms of the jail officials made life
tough for me. They could see that I could afford to pay, and they wanted more.
My parents were taken for a ride and my two-month stay in the jail cost them
a little more than Rs one lakh.
Coming to food. One gets one subzi, a dal
and four Pots at each meal. Paneer and milk are on the diet chart, but nobody
gets these. Jail officials use rotten vegetables and the Pots are inedible.
But here again, if you're willing to pay, you're OK; you can eat as much as
you want. But if you can't afford to pay, you might not even get food, forget
about rotten stuff. The tea is so watery at Tihar; I used to buy milk from
the canteen and get my own tea made from the canteen guy.
In Tihar, you can buy whatever you want -
even services of the poorer inmates to do menial jobs. I had an illegal Bangladeshi
national for odd jobs. And believe me there's a mad rush among people to do
such jobs.
Then, there was an Australian inmate who used
to buy yeast. With this, we would fill a five-litre mineral water bottle with
bananas or apply, add some sugar and after nine or 10 days, would have our
own booze.
Now, inmates are allowed only two visits a
week. But by paying off officials, my parents used to come three times in
the week. For every visit they used to buy a Rs 200 coupon and give it to
me. I used to transfer it on my swipe card. Through this swipe card, I could
buy goods from the canteen. Things aren't cheap: a single Gold Flake cigarette
costs Rs 50, and a joint of charas Rs 30. The problem was with lighting the
cigarette, as matchboxes aren't allowed in the premises. We used to burn a
piece of cloth by putting it on a glowing bulb and use this to light our cigarettes.
The prime place to stay in Tihar is the 'chandukhana'.
This is one of the sections in Jail Number One, which has several lock-ups
within the premises. There are three large dormitories, which are further
compartmentalised into three sections. One of these sections is known as the
'chandukhana' where the privileged lot stay. To gain entry here, you must
have the approval of an existing inmate, and pay anything between Rs 500 and
Rs 5,000 (depending on how much the Tihar officials think you can afford)
for the privilege. When I was in Tihar, there were only 10 men here, compared
to over 500 prisoners in the other sections.
Prison routine falls into a predictable pattern.
From 6 am to 12 noon, we could walk in the compound to get some fresh air.
Between 4 pm and 6 pm, one could again come out of the lock-up. People who
paid up were free to roam around inside the jail premises. For me, the best
thing about Tihar was the library I read a lot and played basketball to kill
time.
The most important thing to buy at Tihar is
transportation to courts. There's a common bus. It will not stop on the way,
whatever the provocation. This can be dangerous. People who get convicted
by courts, can attack you with blades on the way back. This way, another case
gets registered against them and they get to stay on as undertrials. The catch?
Undertrials don't have to work, while convicts have to.
If you're willing to pay, you get to go to
the courts in a special high-rise bus. It's not cheap. One has to pay Rs 10,000
per month. I used to travel along with Kashmiri terrorists who were involved
in the Lajpat Nagar blasts. They used to mind their own business. They were
well dressed too. The privilege extends to your time in the courts as well
where you have the luxury of staying in a special lock-up away from other
undertrials. For an additional charge, you can also get home-cooked food in
the court lock-ups.
My two-month stay in Tihar changed my perspective
on life. Corruption prevails at every level, from top to bottom. Jail officials
realise that people like me can't live in hell, and are willing to pay for
better standards. For poorer people such luxuries can be availed at a much
lower cost. The motto of the jail staff is to extract as much as it can -
perhaps the only exception is the Tamil Nadu police, posted there for security.
The day I was released, I got a stern statutory
warning: "Don't talk about this to anyone or else..." But I am still
doing it as it may help improve the conditions of other inmates.
