Activist Teesta Setalvad who was recently released on bail from the Ahmedabad prison, on Monday said , a number of women serving a life term are eligible for remission but have been denied the same.
It is to be noted that the activist was jailed by the Gujarat crime branch in June this year in connection with the 2002 Godhra riots. Setalvad delivered a video message at an event held to mark the fifth death anniversary of journalist Gauri Lankesh.
On September 5, 2017, Lankesh was shot dead outside her residence in Bangalore. Speaking of remission, Setalvad stated that she met 17 women convicts who were sentenced to life and are now eligible for the relief granted to 11 male prisoners convicted of Bilkis Bano’s rape. The activist added that the women await remission anxiously.
“Unfortunately justice in our country is lopsided and it is time for us to work for jail reforms,” she remarked. Setalvad went on to say that the slain journalist would ask her about the female convicts inside the Sabarmati prison.
She then shared her jail-time experience, “My experience in Sabarmati prison is extremely worrying because I was there from July 2 to September 3, 2022, and I saw the impact of the entire COVID-19 paralysis on access to justice, which had impacted women’s ability to get bail and (led them to) be incarcerated,” she recalled.
She further urged human rights activists and citizens to understand what imprisonment does to women. “The jail is actually run by 20 convicts who perform all the manual labour,” the activist said.
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