'Prison Not The Reform Centre As Claimed, It's Centre Of Sadism' : Prof.Anand Teltumbde [Interview]

Professor Anand Teltumbde fought for civil and labor rights while holding various managerial profiles during his illustrious corporate career and had only ever passed by a prison while commuting to work. “If a profile like mine could be tarnished over night as such an oxymoron as urban Naxal, then I thought nothing would be impossible in the world", he says months after his release on bail in the Bhima Koregaon – Elgar Parishad Case where he is accused of Maoist links along with several rights activists.In this interview, Teltumbde talks about his observations from behind prison bars, the four books he authored during his time in prison, including a book dedicated to Ambedkar and why he declined to avail court permission to meet his mother.1. I clearly remember your indignation when you spoke at the Mumbai press club after the Pune police raided your home in Goa. The police had missed you by a whisker as you had already landed in Mumbai that day. Did you anticipate the vehemence to arrest you thereafter? Frankly no. I have been in civil rights movement for more than three decades and seen illegal arrests and incarcerations of poor people. But looking back, I had wrong notions about myself. That I had such a stature and life sans blemish that such a thing would just not be possible. To wit, I was an alumnus of elite institutions like IIM Ahmedabad, had a long corporate career with such top positions as Executive Director, Managing Director & CEO, etc. and thereafter an exalted academic career too with prestigious institutions like IIT, Kharagpur and Goa Institute of Management. Besides, I was fairly known in public as a scholar, thinker and writer on contemporary issues and had over 30 books to my credit. I also belonged to Ambedkar family (married to Ambedkar’s grand-daughter). If such a profile could be tarnished over night as such an oxymoron as "urban Naxal", then I thought nothing would be impossible in the world. Anyway, that is the past and now even such impossibles have become the order of the day.2. You mentioned you had never seen a prison before you were sent to one, and you spent 31 months in Taloja Central prison, what did you see? Prisons were the eye opener for even a seasoned civil rights activist like me because of their opacity. At the theoretical level, I have never understood the rationale behind them except for the obvious fact that they are an essential part of the arsenal of the state to torment people the state does not like. That said, there is a lot that can be done to reform this institution. The Supreme Court from time to time has been expressing its concern on the sub-human conditions obtaining in prisons. It has been universally conceded that the prisoners do not lose their human rights except for freedom of movement by virtue of confining them to a bounded space. The apex Court in Ramamurthy vs. State of Karnataka (1996) had brought to the fore an urgent need for bringing uniformity in laws relating to the prisons and had directed the Central and State Governments to formulate a new Model Prison Manual. Such a model prison manual is since created and stands approved by the current regime. But unfortunately, it is not adopted by many states. Not unsurprisingly, Maharashtra that keeps patting itself as progressive still follows British times manual. People who were transferred from Taloja to Sabarmati (Gujarat) and Cherlapalli (Hyderabad) jails were finding them far better in every respect.Some of the more pronounced issues in prison relate to the lack of rule of law. What the jail superintendent thinks is the law in jail. I saw three superintendents during my 958 days of incarceration and each change significantly impacted the lives of prisoners. Depending upon the proclivities of a person, the things change, of course, within over all limits. Their basic needs such as reasonable quality of food, hygiene, enough living space, healthcare, communication, etc. are blatantly ignored. As a matter of fact, there is no concept of human rights within the four walls of the jail. Prison time entails unnecessary humiliation. It is embedded in each process in the jail. I was told that in the general barracks the prisoners had to stand in row without footwear while talking to superintendent. I was also asked by the guard to remove my footwear while entering the superintendent’s office but I ignored him. The processes need to be aligned with dignity. Stripping a person every time and checking his private parts with bare hands in the name of security needs to be stopped. I saw poor inmates being made to do sit-ups in a completely naked position while the security checks at the gate. I was spared this humiliation. THE FOOD and WATER Prison food was supposed to be checked by the medical officer for adequate quality but all such checks and inspection, including that of the judges were a farce. There needs to be some effective mechanism to exercise check on all these processes.I noticed...

'Prison Not The Reform Centre As Claimed, It's Centre Of Sadism' : Prof.Anand Teltumbde [Interview]

Sharmeen Hakim

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