It is a dull day for Nisha. Her friend of four years, Sonu, has been shifted to another location and Nisha will have to spend the rest of her days here alone, or with a stranger. In fact, Sonu is among the 50 inmates of Jail no. 6 in Tihar who were shifted to the Mandoli prison on July 27, the day of the inauguration of the women's jail there.
"Since she has left, I have not felt like eating or working. She was my family here, in this place. We would laugh together, work together, tell each other our stories, and help each other get through the day," said Nisha, who hails from Delhi and was sent to prison under Section 366 (compelling someone to get married). "I miss Sonu and it is even more difficult than getting used to living in the prison. I had found a friend. Now, I will have to go through the ordeal again," she added.
Even though the Tihar prison has been in existence since 1958, the women's jail was started only in 2000. The current prison has a capacity of 420 prisoners, but on any given day, the prison has over 530 prisoners and over 25 children. After the Mandoli prison, with a capacity of 288 inmates, opened in November 2016, there were talks of moving at least 100 female convicts there. As many as 50 women were moved on the day of the inauguration itself, while 50 more will be transferred later this month.
Although the move was aimed at decongesting the Tihar Jail, several inmates are now feeling the pinch of separation from their friends.
For instance, Bhagirathi, 65, used to read Ramayana with Bimla, 72, every morning and evening. Both inmates had been in Tihar for over a decade for different crimes. Bhagirathi had started treating Bimla as her elder sister and even took spiritual advice from her. Bimla has now been gone for three weeks and Bhagirathi has been silent ever since.
Sudhir Yadav, Director General of Tihar Jail, said: "As the DG, I have to make sure that there is no overcrowding in the jail, especially when women have their children living with them. Also, some of these cases were from the Karkardooma court, and it took a lot of time to send the accused to the far-away court."
