Sabarmati Jail

Being a citizen of India, one need not be extra smart to see that there is massive gender inequality prevalent in our country. The roots of this inequality can be traced down long back in history of our nation e.g. Sati system.

We also got to observe this discrimination during our field visit. We visited Sabarmati jail and interacted with female inmates. The discrimination on the basis of sex was clearly evident there.

After visiting the male inmates facility, which was far better than our expectations, we stopped at a big metal gate which was locked from inside. It was painted in blue, and I wonder if it was to depict the sad state of inmates. We heard the screeching sound of iron latch and the gate opened with a slow motion. We saw an old lady in white sari standing on the door, which made us realise that it’s the place where female inmates reside. We moved inside and entered a compound having four barracks. There were about 60 inmates residing in these barracks and they were uniformly distributed across the four barracks. However we were told by the NGO authorities that some time back there about 250 inmates living in the same barracks, making the conditions inhumane for the residents.

From tailoring to carpentry to cloth weaving, there is plethora of activities present for male inmates in the Jail. Male inmates even have an impressive computer centre at their disposal. In comparison female inmates have too few options to help themselves with their daily livelihood.