Grey market for everyday goods thrives in Delhi jails
NEW DELHI: Sukesh Chandrashekhar, accused of masquerading as a government officer and extorting money from the wife of a businessman has been protesting against jail officers after his television was taken away.
For almost three weeks in April and May, Chandrashekhar was also on a hunger strike after jail officers denied his request for visits to meet his jailed wife, actor Leena Maria Paul. Paul is lodged in the woman’s jail at the same prison complex.
The two were arrested in the ₹200 crore extortion racket that Chandrashekhar allegedly pulled off from inside prison.
Chandrashekhar’s protest for a television -- it is supposed to be made available on demand, but this is rarely followed, and it is usually taken away if a prisoner violates any of the prison rules -has once again highlighted how
many items which are easily available outside prison walls are rare luxuries (and sometimes prohibited), which usually means a thriving grey market inside the prison . Such as sports shoes. Sometime in April, a warder inside jail 2 recorded in the superintendent’s prison diary that he spotted few prisoners wearing white sports shoes.
“It sounds weird, but sports shoes are prohibited inside. It may sound harmless to an outsider but everyone inside prison knows the trouble associated with sports shoes. They are prohibited because the space in the wedge (usually sponge) is used as a cavity to store prohibited items. Prisoners hide blades, sharp objects, even cell phones. The sponge in the wedge is cut or removed. Also, sports shoes have laces, which can be used as rope,” said a prison officer who asked not to be named.
Inside the 400-acre campus of the country’s largest prison complex, leather belts, rope, cotton strings (used to tie pajamas) are also banned. Denim jeans or cargo pants with more than four pockets are also banned.
“People may find it strange that such simple items are banned but it is necessary. Even when convicts are given jail uniform, the string used to tie the pajama is removed. The rope or string could be used to end one’s life or take another prisoner’s life. Prisoners also do not even get ropes to hang their clothes for drying after wash. Jeans are banned because the thick denim material could be used to hide blades. A pair of jeans with too many pockets can be used to smuggle prohibited items,” the officer added.
This is not the first time prisoners have demanded a television and legally fought for it, legally. One of them was Delhi gangster, Neeraj Bawana who approached a court in November 2019 when jail officers denied him a television.
Sunil Gupta, who was the prison’s law officer for over three decades explained the importance of television, “In 1988, when we drafted the jail manual, we realised the importance of television and included it as a non-prohibited item. Initially it was allowed only to prisoners with good conduct. It is common now. But the television can be confiscated by prison authorities under jail rules.”
Prison officers said in Chandrashekhar’s case, he was given a television but it was removed after his alleged role in bribing jail staff.
His counsel, Anant Malik said: “Discrimination has become the new manual in the case of my client and his wife because the alleged ₹200 crore extortion scam involves senior jail officials. Telephone facility was denied by the jail authorities initially. It was allowed to Leena only after the honourable court’s intervention. For Sukesh (Chandrashekhar) the said facility is still a dream.”
The jail administration in the past received what they termed “strange requests” from prisoners. In May 2019, Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the scrapped AgustaWestland helicopter deal requested “western food”. Last year, two-time Olympic gold medalist, Sushil Kumar, who was jailed for the murder of another wrestler, requested protein supplements.
“Even a pen is not allowed. It could be used as a weapon. Pens are given to inmates only after it is allowed by the jail superintendent. The superintendent keeps a record of the number of prisoners who have pens along with their names,” a second officer said.