Telangana jails to segregate rapists for counselling

Telangana Prisons department, famed for pioneering programmes such as jails for rent and inmate-run petrol pumps, has come up with yet another new idea of segregating rape convicts for psychological and social counselling as a part of reformation.

According to Director General of Prisons V K Singh, a person who commits rape is psychologically a pervert. “We will have special cells in every jail in the state to lodge such persons. They will be counselled by professional psychologists and social counselors.” Singh said. He opined that the society and our education system in general have failed to inculcate basic human values in these people.

Realisation vital

Singh said that the idea of segregation came on Monday, while reading about two small girls being raped in the city. He said that those who commit such heinous offences of raping children have a different kind of mentality. “We have to reform them even though it requires patience and expertise,” Singh said adding that one must inject a sense of realisation in the minds of such prisoners. “If they realise that they have committed a ghastly crime then they will repent. The process of reformation begins “, Singh explained.

The Prisons department will dwell upon the history of the offender in such cases, Singh said. “If they were involved in eve teasing and rape charges in the past, their treatment will be much different”. However, the DG clarified that the segregation does not mean discriminating against the rapists. The aim is to reform them.

While psychiatrists agree that the reformative process proved to be good in some countries in case of convicts, they wonder whether it will work in India. Human rights activists opposed the move of the jails department. “Segregating them and giving them counseling is not the duty of a prison. It is unwarranted and is in fact against the principles of inclusion”, MA Shakeel, a Human rights activist, said.