In a new initiative launched by an NGO, an inmate of Model Jail, Burail, here has been awarded a special prize for prose writing.
The special prize in Prose has been given to Manjit Singh, a convict in Model Jail of Chandigarh for his book – “The Story of Awakening of My Soul”. A resident of Patiala, he is lodged in Model Jail, Chandigarh and is undergoing life imprisonment. He completed his BA and MA in Jail and has written this book on changes in his life during his incarceration.
This is a part of the “Tinka Tinka India Awards” announced on Wednesday on the eve of National Human Rights Day (10 December) in poetry, prose and painting. Awards for prisoners are being announced for the first time in the history of India.
This award has been started by Vartika Nanda, a prison reform activist, to encourage prisoners for creative writing and raise their concerns on issues related to human rights. The names of prisoners were announced by its founder, coordinator and prison reform expert Nanda and journalist Anshuman Tiwari.
The Tinka Tinka Awards had invited entries of prisoners across the country to sent their poems and prose in Hindi and English and self drawn paintings for the year 2015.