Sajjan Kumar assigned his Tihar jail job: Gardening

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 17

Sikh carnage convict Sajjan Kumar has just been assigned some jail work: gardening.

Lodged in Tihar Central Prison’s newest complex at Mandoli, Kumar, 73, will be part of the jail’s horticulture gang where convicts are required to do light work, including maintaining the green cover around the largely concrete compounds, plant and water saplings and tend to the available tree cover.

The work was assigned only recently, three months after Sajjan Kumar surrendered following his conviction in a case involving five killings during anti-Sikh riots in Delhi Cantonment on November 1 and 2, 1984. The Delhi High Court on December 17 last awarded life term to Kumar in the matter.

Kumar subsequently surrendered and was jailed starting December 31, 2018. All his attempts to secure bail thereafter have failed, with the apex court agreeing to hear his bail application in August.

Back in Mandoli jail complex, located far away from Tihar prisons complex, Kumar is lodged in ward number 3 with 25 other convicts. Tihar authorities confirmed that Kumar was assigned work after three months of assessing what would suit his profile.

“A convict’s jail assignment has to be appropriate to his age and health condition. Sajjan Kumar is 73 and has a back condition. His assignment had to be based on medical advice. He has been attached with the horticulture wing,” a top jail source told The Tribune, adding that a range of work options, including carpentry, bakery, book-binding and file covering, were considered for Kumar before he was attached to horticulture.

Horticulture is one of the day-to-day maintenance tasks prisoners handle on their own; others being painting, cooking, cleaning and light masonry.

Asked what Kumar’s day in jail looked like, Tihar authorities said he wakes up at 6 am when the wards are opened; has tea like other convicts and then does his yoga.

“Sajjan Kumar is trained in yoga and does regular yoga sessions in jail,” a Delhi prisons official said.

Kumar’s usual breakfast is khichdi and vegetable sandwiches sometimes. No eggs are allowed. “Eggs are only allowed on medical advice for lactating mothers and prisoners who are patients of TB, Hepatitis C and HIV,” a jail source said.

The main punishment for Sajjan Kumar and other convicts is jail lock-up, which happens twice daily. “Lock-ups entail deprivation of liberty and are the principal part of a convict’s punishment; the part where a convict has to stay indoors,” said an official.

So far as lodging goes, Sajjan Kumar is eligible for a cot measuring 3 feet by 6 feet. “All convicts above 65 years of age are eligible for cots of prescribed size,” jail sources say, adding that Kumar spends most of his lock-up time reading newspapers.

Delhi Prison Rules 2018, which replaced Delhi Prison Rules 1998, are based on model prison rules that are in consonance with the UN standards for human dignity.

Prisoner’s diary

• Sajjan Kumar is lodged in ward number 3 with 25 other convicts
• Up at 6 am, does his yoga
• No eggs, breakfast is khichdi and vegetable sandwiches at times
• Spends most of his lock-up time reading newspapers
• Sleeps on a cot measuring 3 feet by 6 feet