Hyderabad: With Republic Day around the corner, hopes of many prisoners’ children are pinned on the jail authorities.
They either live with a relative or in institutions and organisations as their only parent is in prison. There are about 7,800 prisoners’ children across the state in the age group of 3 to 17.
On December 21 last year, more than 390 life convicts were prematurely released across the state, much ahead of Republic Day, as per a government order. Two men from Chanchalguda prison, 12 from Chan-chalguda women’s prison and over 20 from Cherlapalli were released.
A few of them were reunited with their children, some just walked away while a few even confessed that they were not fit enough to take care of their kids and left them back at the NGOs.
“There were 20 children who were waiting for their parents to visit them and take them back home. But only three turned up and are now reunited with their children.
The rest only visited them once and are now back in their villages. We are following up with the kids that are now back with their parent to ensure their well-being,” said Dr Premraj Varma, founder of Awake O’ World, an organisation especially for prisoner’s children.
Over 50 such children in the age group of three to 17 have been with the organisation for over five years now. The organisation also has a separate home for girls aged 13 and above.
Meanwhile, the women’s jail in Chanchalguda has 12 kids, all under six, who live with their mothers.
Martin Luther King, a 10-year-old from Anantapur awaits his mother’s release from the women’s prison. His mother had killed his biological father and married another man with whom she had an affair. “I meet her once every month in my school uniform. She said she will be out in some time. She cries every time I meet her,” he said. Whereas others like Pawan Kumar and Arjun Kumar, sons of ex-convict Rajaiah, are still living in the Awake O’World house.
S.A. Hoglah, the warden of the organisation, said, “It is very sad to see them get their hopes up and then not be able to meet their parents. The authorities have said that they have more pending files that are under process. But we do not know when these will be cleared.”
Inspector-general at the Andhra Pradesh Prisons Department, B. Sunil Kumar, however, said, “The number of files that we sent to the government has been cleared and we have released them prematurely. There are no more candidates currently for further release. Unlike previous years, it is not very likely that any prisoner will be released this Republic Day. We have not finalised anything so far.”
