Prison and Prejudice: Highlighting prisoners’ plight, young Kupwara student authors book

Srinagar: Dismayed and moved by the double standards towards the jail inmates, a master’s in criminal law student has penned his maiden book to highlight the plight of people languishing in prisons facing major challenges in absence of attention and basic facilities.

Asif Iqbal Shayeq, the author, hails from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district and has recently completed his LLM (Criminal Law), and is intending to pursue a PhD in law.

The author has completed his maiden book titled “Prison and Prejudice” — an attempt to highlight the rights violations, high handedness of law enforcement agencies, and the pain and sufferings of jail inmates.

Talking to KNO, Shayeq said that during his studies for criminal law course (LLM), he visited several known prisons across India and J&K where he found the inmates are deprived of their rights. “Even basic facilitates aren’t available in an adequate manner in the prisons.”

“During my visit to jails, I learned the inmates aren’t given an equal share of rights. I witnessed the double standards of law enforcement agencies looking after the prisons and their high-handedness that the inmates are made to undergo,” he said.

“In the book, it has been highlighted that the inmates are kept in the grimmest situation, with inadequate facilities, no sanitation and non-maintained toilets.”

“It is a matter of high concern that jail inmates, who are our own people, are made to face immensely challenging conditions within prisons,” he said.

About the Kashmir valley, Shayeq said that in his book he has written about the three Kashmiris who were detained for the Lajpat Nagar bomb blast but were later released after 23 years of imprisonment after a court pronounced their innocence.

During the research for his project in the LLM course, Shayeq said, after visiting various prisons across India and Kashmir, he concluded that whatever is written in the rule books is confined to pages only and “all that is in the academic books isn’t found on the ground anywhere.”

“I witnessed congested jails where nearly 15 inmates were put in a single jail room. Also, some gang wars happen during which nearly four people die every year who fall prey to attacks in Tihar Jail alone”, he said.

“There are suicide cases in the prisons as well which is a high concern”, he said.

Asif further said his book has attracted a high response from readers who have appreciated his efforts of highlighting the plight of prisoners. (KNO)