COlOURS OF THE CAGE
Author: Arun Ferreira
Publisher: Aleph, Rs295
Arun Ferreira — who spent four years and eight months in jail on charges of being a Naxalite — was often subjected to physical and mental torture, a regular feature in Indian prisons. He tells ANANYA BORGOHAIN about his jail experiences
Minimal food, perpetually long queues for a bath, a five minute time limit to meet family once a week, extensive physical torture and restricted resources for reading or any other recreational activity. life in an Indian prison cannot be more repulsive. After his release, Arun Ferreira pursued a degree in law and shifted his attention towards the plight of political prisoners. In a conversation, he divulges how his experiences inside prison has changed and reconfigured his vision in life.
Please tell us about yourself.
I come from a community of people who were among the original inhabitants of Mumbai. I completed my graduation with Maths at St Xaviers College. During college itself I was drawn towards social activism — organising camps to the rural areas, blood donation drives, etc.
later on I got involved in organising the oppressed to stand up and fight for their rights. This first started with the canteen workers of my college and then with slum-dwellers opposing demolitions. I joined a revolutionary students organisation called Vidyarthi Pragati Sangathana and after college, in a similar organisation for youths called Naujawan Bharat Sabha. Through such organisations my consciousness and understanding about class divisions and caste-ridden society grew immensely and I saw my work as a contribution to eradicate these evils.
What led to your arrest in 2007IJ What cases were filed against you and what was their outcomeIJ
I must have been on the Government’s target list for some time, though I am to this day unaware of what was the immediate reason for my pick-up. When I was first detained, the Anti-Naxal Operations (ANO) wing of the police made absurd statements to the press that they had uncovered a plot to blow-up the memorial at Diksha Bhoomi in Nagpur, where Dr Ambedkar had led the conversion of Dalits to Buddhism. This of course was a totally false allegation only meant to defame me through the press. Nothing of this so-called plot ever appeared in the FIR, the charge-sheet or at any time throughout the trial.
Thus, though the agencies that arrested me had no concrete act that they could actually use against me, my ‘ideas’ my ‘thought’ was enough. The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967 (amended in 2004) allowed for a wider interpretation of what constitutes criminal conspiracy and abetment. I was charged, among other things, for conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, membership of a terrorist organisation, etc. After four and a half years in jail, in the absence of any evidence of any acts on my part, I was acquitted. It was UAPA that provided the legal cloak for this farce.
Until your arrest, what was the nature of your activismIJ
Since the 1990s, we have seen the Government’s neo-liberal agenda leading to increasing impoverishment, retrenchment and rising prices. Farmer’s suicides, anti-displacement struggles, growing job-insecurity and fascist attacks have become an everyday reality for them. Before my arrest I had been organising such sections through my interaction with various social organisations to build a broad movement against Capitalism and Globalisation.
Please familiarise our readers with the life inside an Indian prison as you have so evocatively depicted in your memoir.
The most shocking aspect of prison life and practice is its antiquated setup. Nothing seems to have changed from British times. It starts from the Prison Act and Manual that governs rules in prison to the daily practice and de facto rules of the administration. Although International Fora and Conventions and Supreme Court judgements have repeatedly insisted on such an approach, the present practice has been anything but near it. The recent news of women inmates being forced to do sexual service in prison is not shocking.
As a society we need to be more aware and sensitive to the rights of prisoners. We are often quite content to see persons ‘convicted’; ‘They deserve that’, is our usual refrain. However, as long as ‘our’ people remain incarcerated, can we ever say that we are really freeIJ
Humour, even during the most macabre events in human history, such as the Holocaust, served as a tool for relief even if temporary. Did the same apply to your life in jailIJ
True, humour exists in the darkest of times. And prison is no exception. Even in the phaasi yard, with the shadow of death ever present, humour finds its way through. In my narrative I have used anecdotes and a writing style that often strikes many as humour. In a way, it provides relief to the more serious experience, but I would rather consider it to be my take on the ironies of prison life.
You had access to and did a vast amount of reading while you were in prison. How did it helpIJ
A few of us inmates who could and who did read were an exception. Reading kept us involved in the debates and discussion that society took interest in and we were deprived of. It was our window to the outside world. And last of all, it was succour from the frustration of the system that we got a daily dose off. For the majority, who could not read or did not read, frustration had to be warded off with a goli of charas or rigorous prayer.
The prison authorities either directly or indirectly are keen to maintain a patronage of such activities. Why else would the administration have no expenses incurred to promote their library facilities and sports/cultural activities, etc.IJ
You were released in 2011, but rearrested soon after. What are the biggest legal loopholes you see in our systemIJ
My experience has shown me that the present criminal justice system including our judiciary is heavily biased against the poor and oppressed. These are the sections that will be found languishing in the prison for years on end. The latest NCRB statistics depict how the numbers of Muslims, Dalits and Tribals in prison are in greater proportion. The numerous and repeated directions from our apex court that bail is the rule and jail an exception is not implemented in practice and definitely not for the poor and oppressed. laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Sedition and the various Public Security Acts enacted by State Governments are violative of the spirit of the Constitution. They have been used by the state to suppress dissent.
What measures do you suggest to resolve these legal fallaciesIJ
One could start by following the guidelines laid down by the Constitution, various International Covenants and the Supreme court vis-à-vis torture, custodial violence, encounter deaths, prison conditions, Human rights, etc. The Government, if keen to repeal archaic laws should not only restrict itself to those laws that have become an impediment to business and investment but mainly those that are oppressive for the masses. Repealing the Armed forces Special Powers Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Sedition and the various Public Security Acts enacted by State Governments will be a good start for any true reform.
What has kept you busy post your releaseIJ
After my release in January 2012 much of my activity and energy went in following up on the case where I had got bail. The trial had commenced and the prosecution was trying their best for a conviction. They tutored the witnesses desperately. Some even identifying me in court but luckily goofing up on the act I was alleged to have committed. I had to attend the court dates. And then there were the monthly visits to the police station — a reminder of the abuse and humiliation of those years in prison.
Nevertheless, after release I have continued my social activism, now mainly concentrating on the plight of political prisoners, draconian laws such as UAPA and prison conditions. I have been delivering lectures on these issues. I also have been helping in the defence of other political prisoners and have been pursuing a degree in law that will be of help in further work in this regard.
Any particular incident which has been the most memorable for you from your time in prisonIJ
My experience in the phaasi yard, meant for prisoners on death row, had been the most harrowing. It brought me to see the futility and barbarism of capital punishment. The case of Surinder Koli, a Dalit accused of murdering 18 women and children residing in Nithari village, Noida, is a recent example. He is facing imminent execution after his review petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court on October 28, 2014. The Government is to hang this man merely on the basis of his confession even while the trial in the remaining 15 cases is pending. If the evidence is proven false will it be possible to bring him back to lifeIJ I have also written about Javed, who has been in jail since 1998 after the Mumbai blasts. He had come to tour Mumbai.
How do you look back at those four yearsIJ
The four years eight months exposed me to the underbelly of our society. Till then this was something I had merely heard off. The experience has only strengthened my resolve to work for a truly democratic and just society, free from all forms of oppression.
