Mangaluru: For no fault of theirs, three children below the age of five live in the jail as prisoners along with their parents, who are under trial since June this year. The children only see the world through the meshed windows of a police van – only when the little ones accompany their parents to court for their trial.
Superintendent of the Mangalore District Prison, Mahesh Kumar S. Jigani confirmed that there are three kids in the jail. Among them, two children are two years old, while another child is five years old, he said.
A couple hailing from Goa were arrested in October for attacking and robbing a beauty parlor owner at Surathkal. The couple has two children. All the four are confined to the jail while undergoing trial.
Another two-year old child too is forced to remain in the dark of the prison, after her mother Prashanthi Poojary (22) allegedly strangled her husband Harish Naik (44) at Belthangady. The mother is undergoing trial since June.
Mr. Jigani said as per the Prison Manual, the children will be kept with their parents in the prison until the age of six. Later, they will be sent to the observation centre until their parents are released.
He also admitted that the children would like to be with their parents especially with the mother. The mother will not let her child be elsewhere due to attachment, he said. Besides, there are at least six women staff in the jail, who too make sure that the children remain happy all the while. In addition to it, few members of different organizations come to the jail and bring snacks for the children, from time to time, he added.
“Of the three children, one child is of school going age. We will send the child to school, if the Child Welfare Committee makes any such arrangements with the support of the district administration. We have also received directions from the deputy commissioner A.B Ibrahim to send the child to nursery school”, the Superintendent of Police said.
A.B Ibrahim told newskarnataka.com that the concern is to protect the life of the child. “I visited the jail on Tuesday. We will start vocational training skills for the under trials, for the productive use of their time. Some of the jail inmates are here since five years. These under trials can use their time productively “, he said.
