Maneka Gandhi rues poor conditions of Byculla jail; lists achievements of govt

In Mumbai's Byculla jail, only two buckets of water are allocated for the whole day in the bathroom that is used by 600 women prisoners, revealed Maneka Gandhi, Union minister for women and child development. The minister further revealed that only five sanitary towels are issued per month to every prisoner. She was speaking at a conference to give a report on the performance of her ministry in the last four years.

Maneka Gandhi said the recent death of a prisoner in the jail, which had triggered a riot among other prisoners, was because she had asked for more sanitary towels. “Our ministry had sent a team of two parliamentarians to look into the conditions in the jail after the riot, and this is what they discovered.''

Previously, it was reported the woman had raised the subject of missing eggs and bread from the prison ration. She was allegedly beaten by the prison authorities, and succumbed to the injuries in the hospital.

Maneka Gandhi said the ministry had asked Delhi University's law faculty to draw up a report with recommendations on how women prisoners can access their rights while in jail.

The minister enumerated a number of initiatives taken by the government, from Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Programme to improve the child sex ratio, new legislation on six-month maternity leave to women employees in all sectors, to amendments in the Juvenile Justice Act, by which now even 16-year-olds, accused of heinous crimes like sexual offense, can be tried as adults. The minister, however, rued that the National Policy on Women had not come out yet. She said the draft had been prepared by the ministry, but it was now stuck at the cabinet level.

Maneka Gandhi said hopefully, in a few months, the panic button on a mobile handset would become compulsory for the Indian market. She said the devices were being tested in Uttar Pradesh and soon, India would become the first country to have a panic button on the phone. It would be synced with the emergency number 121. She added that the delay in introducing this facility was due to the factoring in of additional cost of manufacturing.

The minister further said women who took shared cabs had the option of telling the can driver not to pick up another passenger, if she felt uncomfortable about it. “The WCD and road transport ministry had taken up the issue of central locking in cabs, which could be used to trap a female passenger. The decision to remove central locking, and also, for women to choose who shared their cabs, were taken at the same time,'' she said.