Nineteen years ago, Kanhaiya's mother, Vijai
Kumari, was convicted of murder - wrongfully, she claimed.
She was granted bail on appeal but she did not have
the 10,000 rupees ($180; £119) she needed to post bail. Her husband abandoned
her and no-one else came forward to help her.
"I thought I'd die in prison," she says.
"They told me in there that no-one ever gets out."
She was pregnant when she went to jail. Four months
later, Kanhaiya was born.
"I sent him away when he got a bit older. It was
hard but I was determined. Prison is no place for a young child," she
says.
So she stayed in prison all these years, lost in the
system and forgotten.
All she had to keep her going was a passport-size
photograph of her son and his visits to her every three months.
'Think of her and cry'
Kanhaiya spent most of his childhood growing up at
various juvenile homes. And he never forgot his mother.
"I would think of her and cry," he says,
speaking softly and with a lisp.
"She was in prison, all alone. No-one else ever
visited her. And my father turned his back on her."
As soon as he turned 18, he was trained to work in a
garment factory. And he began saving up to get his mother out.
"Someone told me about him. He was surprised to
hear about my mother's case."
The lawyer took on his case and earlier this month, his
mother was freed from prison.
Judges expressed their shock at her situation and the
"callous and careless" behaviour of the authorities.
They have now ordered a sweep of all the prisons in
the state to see if there are others like Vijai Kumari (estimated 300,00
inmates - 70% waiting to face trial)
What do you think of this clear unfair treatment between social classes?
What do you think about the son's effort to gather money for his mother's bail?
Vijai Kumari’s case is one of the many unfortunate cases in which a person is unfairly convicted of a crime they haven’t committed and end up being imprisoned. In my opinion, this is totally unfair and definitely unacceptable, since people are forced to stay in prison for a long time for no reason whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI feel that, in our modern society, cases like Kumari’s shouldn’t be happening; the judicial system should definitely improve in order to avoid unfair imprisonments. As well as this, like Marta pointed out in her question, if this unfair treatment had been given to someone of a higher social class they probably wouldn’t have spent all those years imprisoned. Therefore, action must be taken to avoid cases like this happening again in the future, not only to avoid unfair imprisonments but also to improve social inequality.
On the other hand, referring to Vijai Kumari’s son Kanhaiya, I’d like to say that I really admire what he did and how he supported his mother the whole time despite her being abandoned by her husband and not having anyone else willing to help her. It takes, from my point of view, a great effort to save up the money as well as giving support to his mother and this act is definitely an example of the love that a child has towards his mother; and how important the bond between them is.
I am personally glad to see that nowadays, in a world of selfishness, egocentrism and ambition, there is still space for the love between a mother and his child. I think that the son has done the right thing when trying to save his mother from spending the rest of her life in prison; she was the one who gave him his life, and by gathering money to pay her bail he is giving back her mother´s life, a beautiful metaphor about the fact of giving birth and the relationship created by a mother and her son.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the incompetence of the political and legal organizations are proved in cases like Vijai Kumari´s situation, being in prison for more than eighteen years when she was innocent, a real torture and nightmare for any human being. It is unfair but true, anyone who isn´t politically or economically powerful is treated with indifference and carelessly, if the judge had studied more deeply her case she would have probably been released without charges from the beginning.
In conclusion, day to day we are able to see the unfairness and carelessness of legal organizations, how they only work and put in effort when treating with a powerful person. Moreover, a case like the one Viaji Kumari has lived, makes people open their eyes on the importance of family, those people that will help and support you whatever happens.