Prerana languished in a cell of the Central Prisons, Parappana Agrahara, for 13 long years refusing to see even her two sons. When she walked out of prison on Monday on the occasion of Independence Day, she was received by her 21-year-old son Chetan whom she had last seen as an eight-year-old boy. Prerana hugged Chetan. Tears rolled down the cheeks of the mother and son. The two found it difficult to speak as there was uneasy silence for a while.
Prerana is among the 21 women prisoners to be set free based on good conduct. “I had never deserved this, but accepted the fate silently. The scar of living behind bars remains in me for ever,” she told Deccan Herald. The court awarded life imprisonment to Prerana, her sister and their mother on the charge of murdering Prerana’s husband in 2003.
“I know I was punished for not being wrong, but I accepted the verdict. I was labelled a murderer. “The charge haunts me even now more than the punishment. I will accept life as it unfolds,” she said.
“I have respected the law. There is no meaning in crying over the past. I don’t want to remember all that,” she said. It was in March in 2003, when the “unintentional” murder took place at her house in Kodichikkanahalli. Prerana’s husband had taken to alcohol. He would torture her mentally and physically.
There was a heated argument on that ill-fated night when he returned home in an inebriated state. He attacked her. Prerana’s mother and sister rushed to her rescue. In the melee, the trio pushed him down. He sustained head injuries and died later in hospital.
The court found the trio guilty of the offence and awarded life imprisonment. Prerana chose to remain inside the prison till she served the complete term. She refused the parole facility though her mother and sister used it. She even refused to see her two sons. “It was a voluntary decision to punish myself,” she said on her decision not to meet even her sons.
The prisons advisory board members supported her sons. They admitted the duo in a hostel and supported their education. The eldest completed BCom, while the second one is pursuing BCom.
Prerana was facing her new life when she accompanied her son to her rented house. Prerana’s mother and her sister were received by her brother.
(All names have been changed).
Published 15 August 2016, 20:51 IST