& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Childhood in fetters

Born in jail, children of prisoners see no ray of hope

Zayadul Ahsan
They lack spark in their eyes, tenderness in their voice and spring in their steps. A fettered life in the high-walled Dhaka Central Jail has robbed them of their childhood.
The children have never eaten a full meal, played with toys, engaged in youthful pranks and seen the vast outside world. The ideas of school, jokes with classmates and playing truant are totally alien to them.
Yet their lives are full of struggles. The hearts of Snighda, Ronny, Rumpa and a few others cry for a fresh breath and spaces for a cosy sleep in the over-crammed jail room that also bristles with sexually predatory inmates.
Ten of the children, aged between two months to five years, took birth in the musty darkness of the jail and some others walked
into the 'virtual hell' along with their mothers.
Their upbringing is characterised by unusual lack of sympathy and company of violent convicts and is devoid of all basic needs of childhood, including adequate food.
It is hard for them to find a space to sleep at night in the room that hosts about 300 women prisoners instead of the usual number of 84.
"In a situation where the scrumming women literally push each other for a space, children get no priority. The national slogan 'Say Yes to Children' are cruel jokes to them," a jail official said, requesting anonymity.
"It's hard for a mother and harder for the child to survive in the hell," said a recently released woman. "It's a lifelong ordeal there."
"I can say for sure that a child who takes birth in the jail will never come to normal life and grow up with a misshapen personality. They will never ever be healthy unless the atmosphere is changed," a woman inmate told The Daily Star in the meeting room ofthe jail.
The woman landed in the jail being charged of wrongdoing in a land dispute case.
According to jail code, a woman prisoner may keep a child or children with herself for a maximum of four years. If the jail superintendent approves, she can keep them for up to six years.
But the jail authorities, grappling with extra prisoners, failed to allocate the children extra rooms.
Until recently, the jail authori-t i e s did not even provide them with a food allocation. And it is still inadequate.
They share their mothers' meal and often starve.
And the women's ward brings together a full range of motley characters -- general convicts, prostitutes, drug addicts, vagabonds and what not.
"The children who live with them will never get away from the dark shadow of their jail mates," a senior jail official said.
"Since birth, they are the direct victims of corruption by the jail authorities, and subject of indifference, neglect and exploitation. They are even sexually harassed," said a source.
A three-year old girl in her mother's lap broke down in tears and virtually threw a tantrum to get rid of the fettered upbringing.
Her shell-shocked mother cast around for words of promise to take her out soon.
"Who wants to stay in this hell. Even my three-year-old daughter understands life is continually a curse in this caged life," the woman told The Daily Star.
A senior jail official expressed sympathy for the victims and said work on a daycare centre was on.
(The names of the children have been changed to protect privacy.