By K Sarojkumar Sharma
IMPHAL, May 23: Just a few feet from the verandah of three age-old houses, rows of motley flowers bloomed bright on the ground surrounded by extremely high walls amidst placid ambiance.
The northern house was locked and above its main door a billboard hung reading “Adult Education And Painting Room, Manipur Central Jail”. The dominance of sprouting green leaves and blooming flowers can be embodied with the popular saying “April showers bring May flower.”
Presence of people was palpable in the southern house-cum-hall as several slippers and sandals were seen at its entrance door. The human captivity scenario at the moment was literally defied by a flock of birds flying freely in the blue sky.
Beneath the aged ceiling decorated with rows of threat-pierced colorful papers criss-crossing all over, 37 women sat on carpets at the neatly cleaned mini hall.
They would have enjoyed social life had they refrained from indulging in illegal activities. The long arms of the law put them here, behind bars and they belong to different communities.
Accompanied by jail officers and guards, a group of journalists interacted with the women Under Trial Prisoners (UTP) on Friday afternoon. The discussion focused on the condition of the prison and the inmates` life.
The scribes headed by Wangkhemcha Shamjai, president of the All Manipur Working Journalists` Union (AMWJU), were welcomed wholeheartedly by the female prisoners notwithstanding some trying to cover their faces purportedly out of shyness. Later they spoke freely to the journos.
Of the total 50 prisoners languishing at the heavily guarded prison, 39 are women and the remaining 11, all males from Myanmar and Bangladesh, were kept at a separate sector. Though the Manipur Central Jail was established way back in March 1903, no major renovation has ever been done.
Seven UTPs (extension), two UTPs (strikers), 21 UTPs (others), eight under NSA made up the total figure of 39 female prisoners there despite the two strikers including anti-AFSPA crusader Irom Sharmila Chanu and another agitator having being lodged at the security ward of the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) here.
While some narrated their past events and the unlawful activities they had indulged, others contented that they were wrongly implicated in the crime for which they sought justice after holding speedy trial.
One young woman, who was arrested and remanded to the judicial custody during advanced pregnancy stage, had delivered a baby girl in March this year while in custody and the small child is still with her mother inside the prison.
In connection with a case registered against my husband, charging him as a member of an underground group, I was arrested with an FIR tag in October last year and subsequently I have been remanded here by the court since then. I gave birth to my first daughter at JNIMS hospital on March 16, while in judicial custody.
the 23-year-old woman from Moreh town said as her little daughter frantically gazed at the reporters.
My husband is also currently languished at Sajiwa central jail and the birth ceremony for my daughter is yet to be performed.
She lamented as a tribal UTP prisoner sitting next to her, affectionately played fun to the little baby.
Jail Superintendent Th Subhashchandra said that vocational training centres for embroidery and tailoring in addition to a legal clinic cell have been set up at the prison complex.
On the fate of the young mother with the child, the SP said that she was granted bail by the court considering the birth of the baby but she failed to furnish the surety bond.
We have extended all necessary help to the mother and her small baby,
he added.
After the short conversation, the inmates walked around the garden with some of them crooning Manipuri songs, while others sought information about the flash floods hitting parts of Imphal valley and the ongoing ILP agitation.
Three to four inmates categorically told the scribes that they fully support the popular movement for implementing ILP system in Manipur to check the illegal flow of outsiders in Manipur. (www.manipurpao.com)