Tihar Jail inmates take parole to get married

Rakesh Singh 35, who is lodged in Tihar jail and is serving a life term for murder, can’t wait to get married.

He had written to Delhi government seeking permission to be released on parole for four days to tie the knot with his long time acquaintance Roshni. In his letter he has written how he was committed to Roshni and his long-cherished dream to marry her.

Rakesh is not alone.

Tihar jail authorities are literally flooded with such requests from convicts languishing in Asia’s biggest prison over the past few years – several of them seeking parole to marry.

“Several of such convicts marry after being granted parole. This is a growing trend and we do not have any complaints. It is a positive thing and would also help them in rehabilitating once they get out of prison after serving their term,” said a senior prison official.

Over last two years around 150 convicts have got married after being allowed parole. In total, around 800 inmates have gone on parole for various reasons. 

“Another good thing is that the promise of an ordered family life after jail made such convicts to be on good behaviour inside prison. After marriage they become more disciplined and well-mannered, he added.

But there are others who misuse the relief and go missing after being granted parole --- 26 convicts have gone missing in the last two years after they were granted relief.

“This is why we have written to the Delhi government to make parole rules more stringent and amend the existing guidelines,” another official said.

In 2011 end, Delhi high court granted Manu Sharma, serving a life term for the 1999 murder of Jessica Lal, parole for five days to attend his brother’s wedding but laid down a condition -- he wouldn’t visit nightclubs or discotheques during the five days.

In 2009 Delhi government had landed in a soup after recommending parole to Sharma who was found partying in a discotheque in the capital the last time he had been granted parole to visit his ailing mother in Chandigarh and attend his grandmother’s last rites.

According to the official jail authorities get 20-25 applications every month from convicts seeking parole on several grounds including marriage.

“Only those who are well-behaved and have never been involved in any untoward incident inside prison are allowed,” said Sunil Gupta, law officer Tihar jail 

Parole is granted to convicts on grounds of sickness in the family, perform funeral rite, attend marriage, sorting out property dispute, construct a house or repair a damaged house, education or any other sufficient reasons. It is granted by the governor, Delhi, and the high court if the appeal is pending there.

The relief allows a convict to leave the prison for a period of maximum one month on condition that he would behave appropriately after release and report back to the prison on termination of the parole period.

At present 12,000 inmates are lodged in Tihar jail and 25-30 percent of them are convicts.

“Inmates in Tihar are relatively young and the average age being 25-40. We are very happy that some of them are getting married on parole. It helps them in rehabilitation after serving their terms,” Gupta said.

According to jail norms wives are allowed to meet their husbands twice a week which is a normal procedure.

Last year Punjab government announced that they may allow select male inmates to have sex with their partners in a designated area of the jail. If the proposal, which is part of the jails reforms programme, is allowed then Punjab will become the first state to allow sex in prison.

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Tihar Jail parlour big hit among women inmates

Sunita Singh 35, a murder convict, rushes to the beauty parlour inside the high security walls at Tihar every time her relatives come calling. She indulges in spa, facial, eye-brow threading and nails painting among other beauty treatment facilities available and pays a little over Rs 200.

Likewise, women inmates do not forget to indulge themselves before leaving the jail premises for attending court hearings.

Tihar is fast becoming the hottest beauty treatment centre for the 525 women prisoners including some foreigners lodged in the high security walls of Asia’s biggest prison.

Forget your friendly neighbourhood beauty parlours or upmarket beauty treatment centres, a Tihar inmate is also enjoying the same luxury – hair cut, eyebrow threading, facial, bleach, pedicure, manicure, hair dye, head message and spa.

“Women prisoners make a beeline at the beauty parlour whenever their friends and relatives come calling. Sometimes, the visitors are unable to recognise them as they look so good,” said Tihar Spokesperson Sunil Gupta.

A pedicure costs Rs.30, a spa Rs 110, a facial Rs 70, a hair dyeing Rs 30 and eyebrow threading Rs 25.

“The parlour has become such a hit that many of them visit it before leaving the jail premises for attending court hearings. It has provided them with a good opportunity to pamper themselves and they are loving it. Who does not like to look good?,” said a jail officials when asked with a smile.

The inmates working at the parlour are paid wages for the work.

At present inmates under three categories – skilled, semi skilled and unskilled – gets Rs 99, Rs 81 and Rs 70 a day respectively.

The in-house parlour, is a furnished room with photos of Bollywood beauties like Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit adorning the four walls. There is a long mirror along the wall while wooden chairs are there for customers.

“The parlour is run by some inmates who got training in beauty culture from trained people from Habibs. The training is imparted as part of the rehabilitation programme,” said Sunil Gupta.

According to him the inmates who run the parlour are all trained in modern hair styling and other beauty therapy.  “The parlour has become the most colourful and noisiest place inside the women jail,” he added.

The parlour is chock a block especially during festivals.

“Most of them throng the parlour during festivals such as karva chauth to pamper themselves with beauty therapy. Inmates clad in trousers, spaghetti tops, salwar-kameez capris, shirts and skirts are seen standing in the queue,” Gupta, adding foreigner prisoners also frequent the facility.

Most of them are from Nigeria and are facing trial in drug cases and fraud cases.

Going by the flourishing business, the jail authorities are now planning to set up similar beauty salons for its male inmates.

There are salons for hair cut in the other 10 jail for male prisoners where government barbers offer services free of cost.

“Now we have started training programmes for male inmates in hair cutting too. Male inmates also want to look good. We keep on getting VIP inmates who always suggest us to set up flashy salon,” said a prison official.

The parlour is not a profit-making venture. “Every day it is opened from 9 am to 2 pm and they earning is used to buy the cosmetics and accessories for the parlour,” said the official.

Habib’s Hair Academy was set up a training centre where several inmates take part in the training courses, hoping that this will help them start a new life after their release.

The prisoners who successfully complete the training are awarded certificate without mentioning the place of training to facilitate their employment after release from jail.

There are 525 women prisoners in jail no 6 and around 30 per cent of them are murder convicts while the rest are undertrials, mostly in dowry related cases.

At present Tihar houses 13,000 prisoners against the sanctioned capacity of 6,000.

Life in the jail follows a set routine.

Prisoners wake up at 5 am followed by a daily attendance call; breakfast is served at 7 am; lunch between 11 and 12 pm followed by a visitors’ meeting time. The dinner is served early at 5 pm before the prisoners are locked into their barracks and cells.

ENDS

Interestingly, convicts in Tihar take parole to get married

Rakesh Singh 35, who is lodged in Tihar jail and is serving a life term for murder, can’t wait to get married.

He has written to Delhi government seeking permission to be released on parole for four days to tie the knot with his long time acquaintance Roshni. In his letter he has written how he was committed to Roshni and his long-cherished dream to marry her.

Rakesh is not alone.

Tihar jail authorities are literally flooded with such requests from convicts languishing in Asia’s biggest prison over the past few years – several of them seeking parole to marry.

“Several of such convicts marry after being granted parole. This is a growing trend and we do not have any complaints. It is a positive thing and would also help them in rehabilitating once they get out of prison after serving their term,” said a senior prison official.

Over the past two years over 150 convicts have got married after being allowed parole.

“Another good thing is that the promise of an ordered family life after jail made such convicts to be on good behaviour inside prison. After marriage they become more disciplined and well-mannered, he added.

But there are others who misuse the relief and go missing after being granted parole --- 26 convicts have gone missing in the last two years after they were granted relief.

“This is why we have written to the Delhi government to make parole rules more stringent and amend the existing guidelines,” another official said.
Last year Delhi high court granted Manu Sharma, serving a life term for the 1999 murder of Jessica Lal, parole for five days to attend his brother’s wedding but laid down a condition -- he wouldn’t visit nightclubs or discotheques during the five days.

In 2009 Delhi government had landed in a soup after recommending parole to Sharma who was found partying in a discotheque in the capital the last time he had been granted parole to visit his ailing mother in Chandigarh and attend his grandmother’s last rites.

According to the official jail authorities get 20-25 applications every month from convicts seeking parole on several grounds including marriage.

“Only those who are well-behaved and have never been involved in any untoward incident inside prison are allowed,” said Sunil Gupta, law officer Tihar jail

Parole is granted to convicts on grounds of sickness in the family, perform funeral rite, attend marriage, sorting out property dispute, construct a house or repair a damaged house, education or any other sufficient reasons.

It is granted by the governor, Delhi, and the high court if the appeal is pending there.
The relief allows a convict to leave the prison for a period of maximum one month on condition that he would behave appropriately after release and report back to the prison on termination of the parole period.

At present 12,000 inmates are lodged in Tihar jail and 25-30 percent of them are convicts.

“Inmates in Tihar are relatively young and the average age being 25-40. We are very happy that some of them are getting married on parole. It helps them in rehabilitation after serving their terms,” Gupta said.

In 2010, Tihar also introduced a furlough provision which an inmate can avail thrice in a year.

“But again convicts with a good track record and having good conduct are allowed furlough. The director general (prisons) has the discretionary power to allow furlough to a convict or deny,” said a jail official.

Prison officials said that many women marry convicts with an eye on his property.

“Once married prisoners can also seek furlough,” an official added.

Another jail official pointed out how the love story of a convict touched the hearts of the two judges of the Supreme Court so much that they granted parole to him to marry his fianacee in June this year.

Justice H.L.Gokhale and Justice Ranjana Prakash granted four weeks parole to life convict Mahesh Sharma to get him married to his beloved Sonia on June 25 in Delhi.

Sharma’s counsel pleaded that families of both the bride and bridegroom would face great embarrassment if he could not make it for the marriage ceremony fixed for June 25.

Sharma got engaged to his fiancée on April 14 while he was on a month long parole from April 4 to May 4. Their marriage was fixed on May 20 but his application for extension of parole was rejected by Delhi government.

It was then the marriage was rescheduled for June 25.

Sharma was arrested on the charges of murder by Delhi police in May 15, 2004 and was convicted and awarded life term November 3, 2009 by the trial court and was upheld by the high court and the apex court.

According to jail norms wives are allowed to meet their husbands twice a week which is a normal procedure.

Last year Punjab government announced that they may allow select male inmates to have sex with their partners in a designated area of the jail.

 If the proposal, which is part of the jails reforms programme, is allowed then Punjab will become the first state to allow sex in prison.

ENDS