Tiny dreams blossom in Tihar jail's corner of innocence

NEW DELHI: Inside the country's largest jail-Tihar-is a corner that resonates with cheerful nursery rhymes. A group of kids play there, enclosed by brightly-painted walls, even as heavily-armed hawk-eyed security personnel man the jail's fence like a fortress. Too unlikely, but in the world of criminals is this space where innocence lives in the form of some 30 kids; and dolls, cradles and games replace arms, drugs and gang wars.

The Tihar campus is home to these kids-all under the age of six-along with their mothers who are either undertrials or have been sentenced for crimes like murders or dowry deaths. There are 618 women inmates in Tihar, including 28 mothers-all undertrials.

Tara, an undertrial charged with murder, is an inmate of Jail Number 6, meant for women, for the past four years. Lodged in jail when her baby was just a few months old, Tara hasn't known the world outside ever since. The kid is four now, and the jail the child's only home. While Tara is engrossed in her daily chores between 9am and 5pm with other inmates, her kid, in the meantime, is taught everything at the jail's creche that the children outside the jail learn.

The day for these kids at the creche begins with breakfast which includes cereals, milk and eggs. Thereafter, the children above the age of three are taken to the nursery class, while the younger lot to the other section.

The NGO India Vision helps Tihar run it. The volunteers of the NGO and a few women inmates take classes. The kids here have a uniform, and officials say it is to give them a sense of equality with those who study in the schools outside.

They are good at everything, say officials, as the kids spell the name of fruits in chorus, with some engaged in theme-based drawing and painting.

"The women's jail superintendent, Anju Mangla, closely supervises the creche so that there is no negligence on anyone's part," said DIG, prisons, Mukesh Prasad.

"These children are respected here. Their very presence gives us a sense of harmony. There is no aggression on the part of the inmates towards them and they are well protected," a senior official said. These children were either born in jail or were too young when their mothers were arrested. They do not have any relative or father, an official said.

Sakeena, charged with murder, has been serving time since last year. A mother of three-year-old, she was concerned about her child's future. Now, she feels the creche is doing a good job. Every evening she collects her kid from there and relishes knowing that the child has learnt something new.

The mothers here live with a painful truth though. The kids will have to leave the jail after the age of six and mothers dread the day and the separation.

"We want that these kids should not be left behind others of their age when they leave the jail. Our motive is to rehabilitate them and provide them with a better condition," said Prasad.

But for inmates like Aarti, hope is the only resort. An undertrial who has a three-year-old kid, she was jailed three years ago. All that she hopes is to be released before her daughter turns six.