Bhima Koregaon: Kin of jailed activists write to authorities to not discontinue telephone calls / How the ‘anda cell’ is used to discipline prison inmates
NB: After willfully neglecting Fr Stan Swamy's bail pleas and subjecting him to unusual punishment without trial, our criminal justice system literally presided over his death in custody. He was 84 years old, weak and ailing; and had suffered enormously in jail. After he died, spokesmen for the government repeated the allegations against him as if they were proven facts.
What is happening? There is a clear Mandate from On High that the accused in this notorious case are to be presumed guilty even before they are tried in a court of law, and that conditions in custody be made so physically dangerous as to endanger their very lives. This is not justice, it is cruelty and barbarism. As to the consciences of those sworn to uphold the Constitution, the less said the better. DS
The family members of the accused undertrials in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, have written to the Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) and Special Inspector General of Police (Prisons) to continue the weekly phone calls with them. The letter has been signed by Vimal Jagtap, Koel Sen, Maisha Bharadwaj, Jenny Rowena, Surekha Gorakhe, Pranali Pranab, Minal Gadling, Rama Ambedkar, Sahba Hussain, Sharad Gaikwad, Monali Raut, Susan Abraham, Jennifer Coutinho and Roy Wilson.
The family members were recently informed that the weekly calls allowed to the inmates of Taloja and Byculla prisons will be discontinued since the prisons are all set to resume physical mulaqats. They have alleged that this will cause problems to the inmates whose relatives don’t live in Mumbai and it will be extremely difficult for out-stationed family members to travel to Mumbai to physically meet them. Their letter reads, “Similarly, economically weak relatives of many of the inmates will also not be able to afford the travel to the prisons, which would include the use and hiring of private vehicles. Older relatives of inmates will also find it extremely difficult to come to Mumbai from distant places.”
They have also shared
the plight of members who are now old and have to wait for long hours in a
queue to meet the inmates, which is a tedious and taxing process. In the letter
they have also stated that there are many telephones installed in the jails and
a system for the purpose of bi-weekly phone interviews is in place, and hence
should continue to function for everyone’s convenience. They have said that the
option should be given to relatives of the undertrials living in Mumbai to
either go to jail for visits or to continue the telephone interviews.
They have also given
examples of jails in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Tihar in Delhi, that have continued
with the hybrid system. It also states that Sunil Ramanand (DG Prisons)
during a visit to Taloja jail some months ago, had promised some Taloja jail
inmates that phone interviews would continue even after resumption of physical
visits. Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, the Attorney General, had been appraised of the
same by senior advocate Mihir Desai, who was the amicus curiae in the suo motu
matter regarding prisons, taken up by the Bombay high court.
All family members
have requested the prison authorities to “continue with the phone mulaqat
system, which has been working well so far and which would allow the inmates to
continue communicating with their relatives for those whom it will not be
possible to travel to Mumbai for the purpose of family mulaqats with the
prisoners in Mumbai jails.”
In related news,
senior journalist 70-year-old Gautam Navlakha’s health has allegedly worsened
after being shifted to the Anda circle, the high security barrack of Taloja on
October 12, as per his partner Sahba Hussain. In a statement issued by her, she
said that phone calls have been discontinued and since she is above 70 years of
age, traveling to Navi Mumbai frequently is difficult for her…
How the ‘anda cell’ is used to discipline prison inmates
The torturous practice of solitary confinement, whether for 24 hours or a large part of a day, remains a key feature of modern prisons, sometimes by another name. The continued use of an “anda” (egg-shaped) cell or high security cell in the Indian context appears to be, in effect, the use of solitary confinement — defined by many as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or torture — by another name.
The news that eminent journalist and human rights activist and scholar implicated in the Bhima Koregaon case, Gautam Navlakha, has been moved to an “anda” circle in Taloja jail on October 12 is just another reminder that imprisonment itself appears inadequate for the state. Instead, there is a constant need to continually break the body and soul of a person by making the conditions more challenging. Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, in 2020 noted: “The severe and often irreparable psychological and physical consequences of solitary confinement and social exclusion are well documented and can range from progressively severe forms of anxiety, stress, and depression to cognitive impairment and suicidal tendencies.”
One of the most vivid descriptions of the “anda” cell in the Indian context was in Arun Ferreira’s 2014 prison memoir Colours of the Cage. “The anda barracks are a cluster of windowless cells nestling against a high oval perimeter wall, a maximum-security zone within the high security confines of the Nagpur Central Jail…You can’t see anything outside: No greenery, no sky. There is a watchtower in the center of the anda, and from the top, the yard must actually resemble an enormous, air-tight concrete egg. But there’s a vital difference. The anda is impossible to break out of. Rather it’s designed to make inmates crack.”…
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