In the pre-Independence times, freedom fighters were arrested after protests, agitations, ‘morchas’ and ‘satyagrahas.’ They were jailed for months just for fighting for their rights. There was no drama, news or glorification around it. They considered it a process and lived through it with dignity and humility. It is because of them that we are living in free India. But now things have changed drastically. Those who gave their lives for us are criticized and elf obsession has taken over social obligations. After independence, we have laws in place. For crimes, there is a system of actions that follows to deal with offenders. Suspected offenders are arrested as undertrials and kept in custody till they get bail. This is so that they do not tamper with pieces of evidence or further damage social functioning. There is also a struggle to get bail as the lawyers of the undertrial have to prove to the court that the person accused has been put into that slot wrongly and is of no harm to society if left free while the trial is conducted. After their trial is completed, either they are acquitted or convicted based on the observations of the judges on the arguments of lawyers in the court. That’s how it works for the common people.
Since it is a season of frauds, scams and money laundering extravaganza, we see many politicians being suspected of disproportionate assets and irregular financial activities. They deny it as anyone would do, But the fun part is that their body language is like some freedom fighter or a martyr. There is not an iota of remorse or guilt. The fact they are the talk of the town makes them happy to another level. We have seen scamsters wave to the public as if they are going on some army mission to save the country. And the law is equal for all, at least we believe so. But rules are expected to be different by powerful people. They want to make their own rules. Their presentation makes it feel so. Jail is not a staycation place to get good food and amenities. It’s not a Government paid holiday for recreation or change. However, some politicians feel the pain if they are treated like common people even when they are accused of looting public money or destroying the houses of hundreds of poor people. Once a VIP is always a VIP…. Maybe in their head.
A deadly disease has made people want to be in the limelight all the time. The effects of this dangerous illness are that the patient can go to any extent to be seen, heard and noticed. And this disease is spreading. It’s like rabies, the one who has it starts talking nonsense like nobody’s business.
Recently we heard two politicians on a known news forum speak about their jail experiences. The talk sounded funny. It seemed to be covered with narcissism and ‘VIPness.’ One of them went overboard and spoke s if no one can know the reality. Some specific mentions made the whole dialogue hilarious. He said that lights were on throughout the night and he was not able to sleep well. This was said to make the audience feel that he was tortured unnecessarily. To clarify the same, it’s important to note that every jail has the same rule. Not a single jail has lights shut at night. Jails don’t exist to make the accused’s life cosy and comfortable. If he expected a Jacuzzi and a 7-course meal every day, which he certainly can expect considering his mental capability, he must check if he has reached the third stage of his disease. The newspaper was cut like a sieve and given to him was another painful experience that he wrongly presented by saying that all anti-Government news was cut before giving the newspapers to undertrials. Jails have a rule, if there is any news relevant to any undertrial in that particular jail, that specific news is cut. That’s to avoid anxiety and agitation that can be caused in the undertrial’s mind by reading it. No jail cuts anti-government news. The arrested politician was an attention monger and thus the press was writing about him daily as instructed. That’s why he had to read a newspaper that looked like used craft material. Some people have to learn to live by the rules. Age and sanity have no correlation at all.
The big rats were not left in Arthur Road jail to harm the celebrity politician but the rat menace is a real tragedy of that jail which these politicians have never bothered about before in spite of being in jail committees and decision-making positions. The ants on the floor, the water seeping up the stone flooring, the damp walls, big bars, high ceilings, no sunlight and no home food are the British-designed jail situations that we continue to follow even today. Blaming the Government for torturing you extra is a bit of an exaggerated lie like all the others that he makes in his unplanned extempore so-called press conferences that focus more on abuse and illogic every morning. In fact, the audience should have known that the celebrity politicians prefer staying separately to stay away from the public and get extra amenities that a common man cannot get.
False presentations and claims apart, the said politician should now take interest in making jail conditions better and work towards making changes in the jail systems too. That’s the difference between sympathy and empathy. When you understand the pain it’s sympathy and when you feel it with experience to back it, it’s empathy. Since he has experienced the horrible jail life first-hand, he will know exactly what needs to change and how it can be made more human. He could raise the issues as a policymaker and get the old inhuman rules changed. This will not just help many undertrials in Arthur Road but another advantage is that he won’t experience the same issues next time he visits.
One major question that was raised by the interviewer was avoided and put under the carpet gracefully, “How are written documents of an undertrial sent to his office daily?” For a common undertrial, it takes three weeks to send a letter to his family. Their letters are read before sending to check if they are writing anything aggressive that can cause uproar when read. Sending any material to publish out of jail is another crime. Nobody questioned further and everybody forgot this question asked by the interviewer. But the jail authorities should be questioned how someone could do that daily from Arthur Road Jail.
Or maybe the fat rats dodged the ants, passed through the big bars, crossed high ceilings and carried the documents to their destination in the sunlight. With some people anything is possible!