Kin of convicts in utter neglect: Study

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 17

A research report, ‘Clipped Wings - Impact of Incarceration on Family Members of Prisoners’, conducted by the State Legal Service Authority (SLSA), Chandigarh, was released by Justice Jaswant Singh, Punjab and Haryana High Court, here today.

The research brought to the fore a few heart-wrenching tales from the family of those serving their term in prisons.

According to the report, when a parent is incarcerated, the impact on children is huge and often veiled. Six children of convicts reported experiencing suicidal thoughts. Among these, a child reported that she was unable to come to terms with the fact that her father was a rapist.

“A child of a convict was raped by her father when she was 12 years old. Her mother was also killed by the father. The girl, who did not imagine that her world would fall apart after her father’s conviction, wants her father to look after her and her younger brother,” shared a paralegal volunteer, Sunita, who was part of the survey.

In yet another case, three children and the wife of a convict were forced to leave their home at Indra Colony owing to social ridicule. These children had to discontinue their studies too. The study revealed that a total of 12 children were forced to take up employment and 17 children dropped out of school.

As per the findings, about 36 per cent of children reported that they experienced social isolation. Another 25 per cent reported peer ridicule, primarily from the neighbourhood.

Families divided

A few of those whose children had been convicted for perpetrating offence upon a close family relative under relevant sections of the POCSO Act reported drift in families after the incident. More than 40 per cent of parents had to undergo increased feeling of social isolation.

Not only social seclusion, a majority of parents (58 per cent) stated that they neglected their health, their outings reduced and the amount of time spent on festivals and other social gatherings. A father of prisoner inflicted with HIV was recently given free treatment, after the SLSA team intervened.

Of the 84 parents of prisoners surveyed, 70 per cent, mostly women, reported that they were bearing increased expenditure due to the imprisonment of their ward. Around 60 per cent of the parents reported increased absenteeism from work for myriad of reasons, including court visits, visiting a lawyer for follow up, travelling to relatives’ houses for arranging money, jail visits and taking care of children of the prisoner.

Spouses face isolation

Even the spouses (50 per cent) of convicts faced isolation in society. A number of women spouses reported that they did not socialise alone as their in-laws felt that it was inappropriate.

About 25 per cent of the spouses revealed that their partner was unemployed and a habitual drug user when he/she commited the crime, hence, was not contributing to the family income.

Around 11 spouses stated they had suicidal thoughts. The wife of a convict said she her life was purposeless and was now living for her child. Over 70 per cent spouses were also worried about the future of children

About the study

A total of 84 families — 78 families, whose male member was in the Burail jail and six families, whose female member was in the jail — agreed to be a part of the study. The survey included 84 parents of incarcerated prisoners (48 both mother and father and 36 single parents), 84 siblings, 44 spouses and 53 families of children.