500 kids in Bihar jails, for no crime
Prabhakar Kumar
CNN-IBN
Updated Wednesday, June 13, 2007 at 09:00

Samastipur (Bihar): Jail is an unusual address for
five-year-old Vipin Kumar, but such is the way of life
for over 500 children who are languishing in jails
across Bihar for no fault of theirs.

While their parents serve their sentences, there's no
one to look after them outside.

“I don’t feel like staing here, I really want to get
out of the jail,” says Vipin, whose grandparents and
father were jailed for his mother's death three years
ago.

In Samastipur jail alone, there are 15 children lodged
along with Vipin.

“There are 46 women prisoners and 15 children living
with them inside the jail because they have no one to
look after them outside,” admits Samastipur District
Magistrate N Sarwan Kumar.

While parents want the children to explore life
outside, they are chained by their helplessness. “I
want my kids to move out. It’s tough in here. After
all, jail is a jail and it can never be our home,”
says a prisoner Sarita Devi.

However, there's a way of life in jail too. Swapan
Kumar, a teacher serving sentence for attempt to
murder, has teamed up with fellow inmates to run an
in-house school for these kids.

“Banbari pathshala (school) has been especially set up
for these children so that they can be educated,” says
jailor Rajesh Kumar.

Not history or geography, it's life's bitter lessons
that these children are learning, unsure of what's in
store for them or what their future address will be.

“Though my four children are studying here, I want
them to go out as early as possible,” says another
prisoner Nirmala Devi.



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