{"id":884,"date":"2016-06-25T21:34:40","date_gmt":"2016-06-25T21:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=884"},"modified":"2016-06-25T21:34:40","modified_gmt":"2016-06-25T21:34:40","slug":"india-uttar-pradesh-up-prison-jail-charas-drugs-narcotics-bahraich-child-welfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=884","title":{"rendered":"My Childhood in a Prison Cell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

O<\/span>n a bright Monday morning, I meet the chirpy Karishma, soon after she just steps out of jail, eager to begin her 200-metre trek to school in Bahraich\u2019s Kotwali area. As we walk, she intermittently reads out the hoardings lining the road, full of questions for Asha, the constable in charge of taking her to school every day. Karishma is a regular, chatty six-year-old and nothing about her mannerisms indicate that she\u2019s been brought up in a prison.\n\nKarishma lives with her mother, Anita, and 70 other women inmates, under trial for everything from theft to murder, in Uttar Pradesh\u2019s Bahraich District Jail. Anita comes from the tiny Rukum village in Nepal\u2019s Musikot district and she was arrested four years ago on a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances charge. Bahraich lies along the porous Indo-Nepal border and is a <\/p>notorious<\/a> drug-running centre. Charas and heroin are smuggled into Bahraich over the border, usually by poor rural women with no real prospects, and from this dusty north-western UP town, the contraband makes its way to bigger cities like Lucknow and Patna.\n\nSince the Seema Sashastra Bal started a serious crackdown on women mules, people like Anita have routinely been rounded up. The slow march of the judicial system ensures that they await their trials for years on end. And caught in the crosshairs, in a catch-22 situation, are children like Karishma \u2013 deserving a \u201cnormal\u201d upbringing, but too young to be left without their mothers.\n\nAs we walk, Karishma tells me about Asha Didi and how the inmates are scared of her. I sense Asha is an important figure in Karishma\u2019s life. About two months ago, it seems Asha screamed at a prisoner in front of Karishma, leaving the child very disturbed. \u201cI think she was slightly traumatised,\u201d Asha tells me, \u201cbecause she would remain silent on our walk to school; she refused to hold my hand.\u201d This lasted for more than a week, before Asha got her chance to explain the way jail works and become Karishma\u2019s friend again. Now, every time Karishma sees that inmate, she warns him, \u201cZyada badmaashi nahi karna.\u201d\n\nThis small incident is perhaps only one of the million ways that the reality of living in jail brushes up against Karishma\u2019s life. Otherwise she lives like every other child with a set schedule for school, tuition, meals, and naptime, surrounded by a host of people who care for her. And Asha definitely seems like one of them.\n\nAsha is a short woman with a formidable demeanour. When I try engaging with her, her answers are short and snappy, but she answers Karishma\u2019s questions with love. She plays the role of the strict but loving aunt, who is constantly telling her right from wrong and warning her about things that can harm her. Her official responsibility is only to ferry Karishma to and fro from school, but she wants to do much more. She wants to bring her food from home and take her on outings, but she cannot risk her job.\n

Pandey is very fond of Karishma. The six-feet tall dark cop is always on his toes for her. He is the indulgent father Karishma has never had.<\/blockquote>\nThe outside world for children like Karishma is an unknown entity. In a recent article<\/a> on the subject of children who grow up in prisons, the case of the three-year-old Munna was mentioned. \u201cThe boy recognises his mother as\u00a0ammi\u00a0and other women inmates as\u00a0khala but is a stranger to almost everything about the world outside.\u201d His mother recalled that during her recent court visit he was really startled \u2013 he had seen a dog for the first time.\n\nKarishma undoubtedly also lives without exposure to many things that most children are familiar with \u2013 entertainment like movies or social constructs like friendship. She did have some friends within the walls of the prison. Until six months ago, three other children were serving sentences in Bahraich jail along with their mothers. Karishma was particularly close to Radhika, whose mother Sunita was transferred to Gorakhpur jail a few months ago; the others left after their mothers completed their sentences. Now, only Karishma remains with Asha Didi and jail superintendent Lalit Mohan Pandey as her only friends.\n\nPandey is very fond of Karishma. The six-feet tall dark cop is always on his toes for her. He is the indulgent father Karishma has never had. He tries to keep her happy in every possible way and takes care of everything that she needs, from toys to clothes and everything in between. He keeps a check on her educational progress and talks to her mother and tutor about it. Karishma\u2019s tutor is an inmate called Nasrin, who is a graduate and sits with her every day for homework and revision. Along with Asha, Pandey, Nasrin, and her mother, Karishma\u2019s retinue in jail also includes a cook, an undertrial specifically assigned the chore of preparing her breakfast and tiffin. It is an unusual family set up, but it seems to be working well for Karishma. Although it may come to an end soon.\n\nKarishma turned seven this April. The law dictates that a child is allowed to stay in prison with her mother only until the age of six. Karishma was been under the radar of the Child Welfare Committee but it can’t last long. The law dictates that the child must be handed over to the family and relatives, but Anita is adamant that Karishma will not go back to her father. Child trafficking is common in her village and she is scared that her father won\u2019t be vigilant enough to prevent Karishma from being trapped in the trade. Her only option is to be sent to a child welfare home in Gondi, where she will be allowed to visit her mother twice a week.\n\nEveryone at Bahraich District Jail dreads the day Karishma has to leave her unusual home. Pandey, who is most attached to her, is trying to find a way to get her to stay with her mother and the people who love her, but he may not be successful. The system is bureaucratic and Karishma is only one name in the 1,317 children across India, who find themselves in this predicament.\n\nBut the future is not on Karishma\u2019s mind today. As we reach school, Karishma can only talk about her birthday party. Her last birthday in jail will be celebrated with cake, samosas, and if she’s lucky Uncle Pandey will have probably gotten her what she\u2019s been secretly praying for — a pair of brand new goggles.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karishma has spent most of her life in Bahraich jail with her undertrial mother. She’s a regular six-year-old, even though her best friends are constable Asha and jailer Pandey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1596,1597,480,19,1598,1599,453,1600,1030,1031],"class_list":["post-884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-bahraich","tag-child-welfare-committee","tag-drugs","tag-india","tag-jail","tag-narcotics","tag-prison","tag-seema-sashastra-bal","tag-up","tag-uttar-pradesh"],"yoast_head":"\nMy Childhood in a Prison Cell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Karishma has spent most of her life in Bahraich jail with her undertrial mother. 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