Serving time, for mom

Poornima Swaminathan gives a touching account of children of jailed mothers, who spend their first few years in prison robbed of  the most basic joys of childhood

From behind the bars of the Yerwada prison in Pune, Manju Nath dreams of a bright future for her three-year-old son.

At an age when most children parry questions to secure a place in some tony nursery school, Ritesh sits quietly in a corner of a jail barrack playing with pebbles. Manju wants to enroll him in a school.

It’s something most take for granted, but the mother is fighting bitter battles in the hope of making this simple dream come  true.

As per the prison manual, a mother can live with her child till he/she attains the age of five. After that, the child is sent to a remand home or welfare institution. If the child has a family to fall back on, he/she is handed over to the family.

However, like Ritesh, more than 300 children are spending their first few years in prisons where no one cares about their welfare and well-being, effectively condemning them for no fault of theirs.

To make sure these kids keep pace with classrooms in the world outside, NGOs have set up balwaadis in prison premises. But without financial backing from the state, it’s an uphill task.

“Our aim is to spread education among the children of prisoners. Why should they bear the brunt of their parent’s mistakes,”asks Ravindra Vaidya, founder president of Amravati-based Varhad, an NGO that has been working with children of prisoners for a decade.

The Central government plans to help NGOs provide education to such children. “There is a proposal and we would love to get involved with educating children of prisoners.

It’s an area that requires urgent attention,”says Shantha Sinha, chairperson, National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPR). “We plan to introduce balwaadis in prisons by 2008,”she says.

But as and when that happens, it will only mean one problem solved. Activists have been crying hoarse about the glaring neglect towards the nutritional requirements of children in prison.

Prison officials seem apathetic towards the basic diet needs that children have in their formative years. “Currently, milk and rice is the food given to children in prisons.

They ought to be given more nutritious food,”says Vijay Raghavan, founder of Mumbai-based Prayas, an NGO that works for the welfare of women prisoners.

Prison officials admit that a 2003 Supreme Court judgement has been instrumental in mitigating the pathetic conditions that children of jailed women have to endure.

“The judgement clearly spelt out the norms that needed to be followed. It improved the situation in prisons,”says a police official, admitting that a lot still needs to be done.

One such aspect concerns physical access.  The law permits children of an imprisoned mother to meet the mother/father once a month, if the parent in question is a convict, and twice a month, if he or she is an undertrial.

“However, children have to meet their parents through a fence that prevents personal touch. We are trying hard to abolish this, as touch is very important for a growing child,”said Vaidya.