Reaching out to jail inmates

Humra Quraishi

Several readers have been relaying that I'm focusing only on the dark realities.
Well, a writer dwells on the ground realities; sadly, we are surviving in dark times, with murky political build-ups, dragging along horrifying aftermaths. Its only rarely that one comes across a positive story or a person carrying hope for others! Last month I did come across such a person, who though himself went through a very tough phase, yet he not just withstood that trauma but tried to reach out to hundreds and is still trying to do so…Yes, I am writing about the New Delhi-based theatre personality, Mahmood Farooqui - who is also called the Badshah of Dastangoi, the art of storytelling.
Actually last month I was invited to be part of a discussion on the Anti – Sikh riots. And as soon as I reached the venue – The Attic – what caught attention was a poster carrying details to Mahmood Farooqui directed plays focusing on the jailed. Lurking in the backdrop the fact that he was jailed in the Tihar jail on charges of raping an American researcher but those charges proved baseless, with that he was acquitted by the Courts last autumn. It got clear from the details in the poster that he had been not just holding theatre workshops for the jailed but also staging plays with them, for them. Even before meeting Mahmood
Farooqui I marvelled his grit and courage and that ability to carry on in that jailed condition. In fact, most prisoners I have met and interviewed have told me that they cannot take the strain and find it very difficult to cope… And with that in the background, I decided to meet him and ask him details to his work in the Tihar jail and also what can be done to lessen the

Mahmood Farooqui has reached out to the Tihar jail inmates – not just through teaching them English, voice training, conducting theatre workshops but also by starting off the Tihar Akhbar.

plight of the jailed, especially the under trails , who form almost seventy per cent of the jailed population.
Yes, amazing, the way Mahmood Farooqui has reached out to the Tihar jail inmates – not just through teaching them English, voice training, conducting theatre workshops but also by starting off the Tihar Akhbar – A weekly paper that he conceptualized and edited.
"The newspaper is meant for the inmates to get news of the entire jail as well as know the status of their cases. This newspaper helps inmates who have little legal help or knowledge of their rights.
The newspaper encourages inmates to express themselves through stories, poems or non- fiction writing." And there could be more coming – a media hub , to quote him on this – "yes, a Media Hub for the jailed - A Centre for learning media including camera, sound and editing has been proposed in collaboration with AKJ Mass Communication Centre and IIMC, Delhi. The proposed centre will provide up to date technology to the inmates to learn skills that will help them in employment and
rehabilitation in society…The proposal has been passed by the Jail authorities and has been sent to the Government. So don't know if one can say that it has been approved or not."
I asked Mahmood Farooqui to comment on several aspects; to begin with I asked him the obvious- what made him reach out to the jailed inmates of the Tihar jail with theatre workshops and other creative activities? "I had done some theatre before taking up Dastangoi so when I first landed there I was distressed to see the absence of engaging activities for inmates. I did a Dastangoi session

for newcomers and from that emerged the idea of doing a play.
The first story I adapted was Premchand's Nasha… It is very different doing theatre in jail because most people are either illiterate or barely literate so you have to chose your content carefully. Workshops, plays, performances, they provided a lot of catharsis to participants as well as other inmates. It was also a kind of healing for me."
Now that he is out of the jail confines, what's been happening to the activities he'd started? - "The Tihar Drama Club, that I founded did seven or eight productions while I was there and with the help of the administration we even took it to all the different jails of Tihar and even participated in the Tihar Kala Abhiyan which was held last year.
Before my release I was preparing Ramlila with the troupe, which they staged on their own afterwards. I am still continuing with my work there, I go there once a fortnight. Recently they performed Premchand's Namak ka Daroga at their own initiative which really delighted me. There is some real talent out there and there is nothing better than theatre to bring out pent up feelings."

Shefin Jahan with Hadiya (Akhila) Does he feel that such activities should be and can be introduced in other jails so that there's some basic relief for the jailed? - "Oh yes, absolutely, the Hollywood actor Tim Robbins has been working with inmates over the last decade… he shows how it is possible to use theatre to rehabilitate and to prevent people from repeating their errors. Theatre heals, it should be made a compulsory activity."
With over 70 percent of the jailed population under-trials - technically innocent yet languishing- what can be done to lessen their trauma and pain. - "We have to make bail easier for them and try and incentivise them to do better work in jail so they can be released earlier. Jails must provide a value addition to the poor and the disadvantaged ted which they are not doing right now. Too many warders think their job is only punitive and not

"The Tihar Drama Club, that I founded did seven or eight productions while I was there and with the help of the administration we even took it to all the different jails of Tihar and even participated in the Tihar Kala Abhiyan which was held last year. Before my release I was preparing Ramlila with the troupe, which they staged on their own afterwards."

corrective." And finally, the big question - He went through a turning point in his life, yet he didn't let the trauma demolish him…what kept him going? "The incredible bravery and grace of my family and friends kept me going.
Oh yes, there were many moments when I was very depressed and totally despairing but then I would look around me and feel blessed that i had family, visitors, lawyers...that I could read books and poems and do plays to sublimate my misery and grief whereas most around me didn't even have that. Because of theatre I got izzat in the midst of zillat so I am deeply grateful to the Almighty for this."

The state snatching child !

We, in India, surviving in the midst of the communal hatred, are busy killing love and lovers. Even married couples are not spared. The most glaring example is that of Kerala's Hadiya - whose parents have turned killers of her marriage! In European countries, the State is busy snatching children from their biological parents. One case after another of children forcibly removed from the care of their parents and taken under the State's so called protective care!
In fact, New Delhi's well- known lawyer- activist manning 'Save Your Children', Suranya Aiyar, got in touch, with details of a family of Indian origin, from Tamil Nadu, whose two children have been forcibly taken away from them, by the State in the UK.
And as I went through the details to this hapless Indian family I sat absolutely shocked. The father – Mohammad Y, mother – Yasmin Saheeta Banu Amakeder, of the two children, have not been allowed to meet their two young children– Mahroos Ahmad Mohammad Y and Mahfooza Mohammad Y … The children were snatched in 2015 and as it gets apparent in these details sent to me by Suranya, the UK courts (in Birmingham) have refused to let these children travel to India or Singapore where they have close relatives who are willing to look after them and take care of them.

Suranya Aiyar This brings me to ask - why should the UK government 'murder' the very childhood of these two children – Mahroos and Mahfooza Mohammad Y? Why can't these children be sent back to their country to be looked after by their aunts and uncles? Why should these children be sent for adoption in a foreign land, the UK, when they have parents and close relatives? Why shouldn't we demand an immediate halt of this barbaric trend in the so called developed countries - where children are snatched from their biological parents and placed here and there, on any given excuse!
In this particular case, here are the details. I am quoting lawyer Suranya Aiyar - "They are Muslims of Tamil origin… They entered the UK and lived there for 10 years without proper papers. Everything was fine until 2013 when the father lost his job and applied to the Local Authority for financial assistance. The father and Local Authority got in a dispute over what if any benefits he was entitled to which kept escalating ending with the Local Authority storming the parents' home and taking the children away kicking and screaming.
The court, and this is typical of UK care orders, records that the parents loved their children, that there was no abuse or neglect but still ordering the children to be permanently cut off from their family and put for adoption to strangers because the parents were hostile to the Local Authority! While all this was going on the mother was pregnant with her third child, she fled to Singapore as she was afraid this baby would also be taken.
Very often in the UK if there are care proceedings regarding one child, even the unborn baby is targeted for removal. Social workers come to the hospital minutes after the baby is delivered and remove it. The situation is so bad that many pregnant mothers flee the UK when Social Services come knocking on the door. A British philanthropist called Ian Josephs even helps such women flee ….But the poor mother in this case fleeing to Singapore was deemed to be

"Every year thousands of foreign children are snatched from their parents in the UK and not returned even when their grandparents or other relatives plead for this... Also, the UK should not punish illegal immigrants by snatching their children. This is inhumane. The sensible thing would have been to deport the family to India or Singapore (where they also have relatives) as they had been pleading all this time."

"abandoning" her other children by the UK court and was used as another excuse for not returning the two children who had been taken... From the day they were taken in mid-2015 they were not allowed to see their parents even once. The Local Authority kept insisting that the parents sign some papers that they wouldn't discuss the case with the children or talk about the possibility of them coming home to 'show any emotions.'
Parents who don't know English and were scared that if they signed anything the kids would be taken away for good, refused to sign and this was taken as an excuse not to let them even see the kids. All we are asking for at this point is let the kids come back to their uncle in Tamil Nadu. He and his wife are willing to care for them. The children have done no wrong and should not be punished even if the father was wrong to try and stay on in the UK without proper papers. When we have had similar cases with the US, the children have been sent back to relatives in India - why should a foreign government pay thousands of dollars keeping children in state care when they have relatives in their native place willing to care for them.
But the UK is particularly unreasonable about releasing children. "Every year thousands of foreign children are snatched from their parents in the UK and not returned even when their grandparents or other relatives plead for this... Also, the UK should not punish illegal immigrants by snatching their children. This is inhumane. The sensible thing would have been to deport the family to India or Singapore (where they also have relatives) as they had been pleading all this time."
It is estimated that today the total number of children in State care in the UK is almost 70,000! This reality of the so-called developed world is nauseating, if not frightening.It exposes the layers of cruelty under the heap of façades. Its about time the Indian government together with the Tamil Nadu government demand the return of this hapless family.