Looks are deceptive. One just needs to see Dr Anitha, Assistant Superintendent of Central Jail, Mysore, to reconfirm this old adage. The petite young lady who graduated from ‘Maruti Dental College’, Bangalore in 2001 to become a dental doctor followed the less trodden path to realise her dream of being in the Karnataka Administrative Service, after practicing as a Dental Surgeon in Bangalore for three years!
The Chintamani-born Kannadiga lady passed the KPSC examination in 2005 and her very first administrative posting itself is in the Central Prison, Mysore. Her father Ramanjaneyappa has served as the block educational officer at Chintamani.
Anitha’s duties start at 6 in the morning, the time at which prisoners are unlocked for their daily routine. After supervising the prisoners’ exercise and yoga schedule, Anitha goes for another long round inside the Central Jail premises. Around 8.45 a.m. after having a ten minutes break for breakfast, she attends to the official meetings from 9 am onwards.
“During the meeting, headed by our Jail Superintendent, we usually discuss about prisoners’ grievances, eligibility of the prisoners for obtaining the bail order and many such issues. To narrate an example, a couple of months ago, for two consecutive days, we had to sort out an issue when prisoners unreasonably started demanding ‘everyday food’ from outside. It took a lot of patience and effort on our part to convince them that they would be putting their own life at risk by making such a demand. On such occasions my day never ends. The meetings and discussions go on till 9 pm and most of the days I go for a midnight round from 12.30 a.m. to 1.00 a.m.” says Anitha.
Talking of the additional facilities that have been provided to the prisoners of Central Jail in Mysore, Anitha says “six months back, we got an STD booth installed in the jail premises. With prior permission and under scrutiny, prisoners can access their lawyers and family members, whenever there is a need. There is also the system of PPC (Prisoners’ Property and Cash) under which relatives can deposit a small amount of cash with the jail authorities, so that in times of special needs of the prisoners it can be used judiciously for their own welfare. The PPC fund can also be used for buying coupons from the prison office, so that prisoners can procure chocolates or any other extra eatables from the prison canteens.”
Helping hand
Every Monday, Anitha and the jail Superintendent spend a couple of hours, listening to the grievances of the prisoners from 9.30 am onwards. “In case, we, as the officers in charge can provide them with any realistic, lawful help, we are always there for the prisoners, by sending their requests to the higher office.” Of the thousand and twenty prison inmates, about 90 inmates are women. Anitha says considering the constantly increasing crime rates and increase in the number of prisoners week after week, having only two jailers and eight constables is definitely not adequate. “While most of the prisoners show normal behaviour, a few of them at times get provoked very easily. Also, of all the laws, 498-A ‘Dowry Harassment’ Act is the most misused one. I do feel sorry for the really innocent in-laws, who get booked under the Dowry-Harassment Act, due to the false allegations from the daughter-in-law.”
Medical knowledge helpful
Says Anitha, narrating an incident when an elderly lady of 65 years booked under the Dowry charges developed chest pain at 1 am in the night. “The woman had not eaten anything since morning and was a known case of ‘gastric’ problem. Even then, I rushed to the prison and gave her a chest massage and made arrangements to shift her to the hospital in an ambulance to get investigated for any cardiac problems,” says Anitha, who feels that her medical knowledge due to her being a dental doctor helped her in dealing with such an emergency-like situation.
She also recalls how she tried to counsel two drug addicts, who had got booked under ‘the Drug Trafficking Act’. “The offenders were feeling extremely miserable since they were suffering from ‘drug withdrawal syndrome’. Most of their veins had got blocked due to the chronic usage of intravenous narcotic drugs and they had started vomiting due to withdrawal syndrome.” After providing them with medical facilities within the prison, Anitha counselled them for about a week, during which time the offenders became receptive to her suggestions of meditation and reformation and confessed that their drug withdrawal syndrome had got minimized! “Nearly 90 per cent of the offenders once convicted, usually do not repeat their crime. However, the remaining 10 per cent of the offenders can be categorized as ‘habitual offenders’ who are resistant to any type of counselling,” says Anitha.
Women prisoners
Anitha also supervises the facilities extended to women prisoners such as training for running a beauty parlour, embroidering the cloth and Agarbathi making etc. She also motivates illiterate adult prisoners to participate in the adult education programme. “There is a murder convict, an English M.A woman teacher, who has started teaching other prisoners, interested in learning English languages.” Says Anitha, who counsels occasional offenders, when they breakdown emotionally while recalling the negative event.
Kiran Bedi has been Anitha’s role model and she has read Bedi’s Autobiography “As I see”, which she claims is extremely inspirational. Anitha also believes in Nelson Mandela’s saying “It is said that no-one truly knows a nation until one has been inside a jail. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”
