Painting a new picture from behind bars in Bihar

Ganesh Kumar Singh, convicted for murder, is serving a life term at the Khudiram Bose Central Jail in Muzaffarpur, where he has been lodged since 2003.

But in the last nine years, the inmate has undergone a complete transformation and turned into a skilled artist.

 He can now sketch deities on canvas with great perfection and ease.
Interestingly, the prison authorities enamoured with the hidden talent of Ganesh, has sent his paintings for a national competition being held in Bangalore.

Not alone

But Ganesh is not the only one (behind bars) to have taken up paintings to express his thought. At least four more inmates—Ajay, Uday, Ramesh and Shyam—have honed their artistic skills in the jail in the last couple of months. And their paintings, too, have been sent to Bangalore, where the results of the competition will be announced on March 10.

“The Union Home Ministry (Prisons) has organised a national competition of painting and drawing in Bangalore. The idea behind organising such an event is to judge the works of inmates lodged in various jails across the country. We, too, have sent the paintings of these five inmates for evaluation,” said the Jail Superintendent Vishwanath Prasad.

While Ajay’s paintings exhibit the ill-effects of consuming alcohol and tobacco products, Uday’s paintings lay emphasis on environmental changes, ecological imbalances, importance of blood donation, education and care of elderly people.  

Likewise, paintings made by Ramesh, a life-term convict, focus on renunciation of greediness and mitigating anger and wrath.

“If any of the creations bag award and citations, the prisoners, whom we have helped enhance their creative skill, would be felicitated by the jail administration,” said Prasad, while speaking at length about several other job-oriented schemes introduced to reform the prisoners.