On Sundays, hushed tones are used inside the women's barracks at Thane Central Jail. Inmates quietly eat the sheera — the set sweet for the day — but not before keeping a few morsels of the same on the bed of a fellow prisoner, who killed herself a few years ago. The reason: the general fear plaguing the inmates since the suicide is that the deceased's soul needs to be pacified by keeping the sweetmeat or it "creates disturbances".
Not just the inmates, jail officers, who are called babas by the prisoners, too have been following this ritual for years. Inmates say that the officers on night duty believe that abiding by this weekly practice keeps them safe during their rounds.
It's quite a source of amusement for the new prisoners, who are left bewildered by the activity and are seen discussing it.
The incident, narrates an inmate, happened when a woman prisoner killed herself after being cheated by a cop, who had allegedly gotten physical with her on the promise that he would get her free.
"The officer befriended her and, on the pretext of getting her out, raped her several times. But when she asked him about his promise, he misbehaved with her and they had a fight," said a prisoner when taken to Thane court.
"She used to cook in the jail kitchen; she poured hot oil on herself and died. It seems that the inmates, and more specifically the babas, are afraid of her ghost," said another inmate.
Superintendent of Thane Central Jail Nitin Yachal said, "We are not aware of any such activity inside the jail, nor are such activities promoted inside the prison by the authorities."
