10 months in Yerwada Jail

Image source: New Yorker

I spoke with somebody whose name I won’t be revealing, who spent 10 months in Yerwada Jail under narcotics charges. I’ll be posting the conversation here in three parts. This is the first part. Click for the second & third part.

How did you end up in jail?

In college is when I started doing drugs recreationally. I came across substances for the first time and my interest was piqued by that. Psychedelics were always an interesting point - Beatles, rock bands, Burning man and stuff like that. It became a part of my social life. I was always in social circles where doing drugs was a very casual thing. Flash forward 10 years from there, it’s still a part of my social life. It wasn’t like oh my god that person is a charsi, or that person does drugs. It became very normal for me. I started spending time with somebody who I was working with to organise events. Most of the people who’d come for the events were into drugs. Techno events and shit. I met a lot of new people who I didn’t know very well. The person I was working with; he used to really enjoy this image of having substances on him. He was very vocal about it, he used to show off and stuff. I was more into actually doing the events. Calling people to the party, arranging fliers, etc. He would have substances on him and I would consume it too. I was a part of that culture. So, this guy and I were almost dating. I was probably more into him than he was into me. There was this one bag of powder he wanted to get rid of. He always had substances on him and that was his social image. I told him, theek hai fine, I’ll help you get rid of it. I have a lot of friends who’ll want it. He said cool. So, I asked a mutual friend we both knew and he was a DJ. I told him to come and take the bag. I didn’t know the DJ guy very well either. I was downstairs to give him the bag.

Suddenly, these random men straight from Savdhan India come out from behind the pillars and they’re recording me and they’re like wait right there. I was so scared because I’m standing there with that substance. I was like oh my god, what the fuck is this. I was also very drunk. I started shouting like no no, what is this, you can’t come near me unless you have a female police officer. I was just saying all kinds of shit cuz I was scared and I was trying to buy time. I just thought somehow I could throw the packet away somewhere. Those guys said you shut up, we’ll get a lady constable, just tell me where you got this from. I didn’t want to rat this guy out. They were like, who lives over here? I pretended like I didn’t know. They went up and got him downstairs and took us to the customs office.

We’re sitting inside the customs office, they have the bag in their hand and they’re like whose bag is this? I’m like, I don’t know. They’re like, it’s his bag and just tell us it’s his. I didn’t confirm it. Basically, these guys were keeping an eye on him because his friend had been caught while trying to import hydroponic weed into India. And, that guy had basically struck a deal with the customs people where he told them he’ll give them other names and they’ll reduce his sentence, etc. That guy gave my friend’s address and the customs people were waiting for something like this to happen.

First guy who got caught is quite wealthy. He paid the cops 17lacs to try to get out of trouble but they took the money and they put him in jail anyway. He did a stint for 11 months.

Why didn’t you say your friend’s name?

You’ll find this really stupid. I just didn’t want to incriminate him. I didn’t think it would become such a big issue. 

Did you try bribing them?

I didn’t consider anything. I was pretty drunk, man. I didn’t understand the situation exactly. So, now they have me and the guy in the Customs office and they’re trying to pin it on him but I didn't budge. So, they got fried. They found my family’s address and they searched my house but they didn’t find anything. They searched this guy’s place and found an empty sheet of acid. There was nothing in it. They brought all that stuff and they're trying to get me to say it belongs to that guy. At some point, I was like I’ll go to jail, I’ll see what it’s like. I behaved like an ass basically. 

How long did they interrogate you?

Less than 24 hours. They got us at night. In the morning, we went to court. They were like you go sit inside the jail until we figure out what happened. Basically, they wanted money but I didn’t understand what was happening.

Were you allowed to call family or somebody for help?

They called my mom but it was 12 at night and my mom wasn’t able to come. Usually, she has to hire a driver because she doesn’t drive herself. My sister also doesn’t drive. 

During all this, his parents came and were trying to protect him. Even this guy was like ya fuck her, even she’s saying she did it so let her say. It was really bad, dude. I felt really sad. I heard from other people that this guy was in office for 15 days and he had to pay 15lacs to get out of the situation. He didn’t do any jail time.

How long were you in jail?

10 months.

Then, what happened?

I made so many mistakes. From the customs office, I went to court. In court, the judge asked me if they beat you up, did you say anything under coercion. They’d written this entire confession which was in Marathi that I didn’t even know about. They made it up. This is around the same time they were trying to bust Rhea Chakraborty. They were trying to bust a lot of people. Like they had some quota to fill or something.

Did you have a lawyer in court?

I’ll tell you something about Pune. This narcs thing, there’s a little friendship between one lawyer, the judges, people and the court and the customs officer. They have a bit of a business going on. There’s this one lawyer, his name is ----, he takes all narcotics cases, they called that guy --- and --- came. Now, obviously, this guy doesn’t give a fuck about me. Why would he? So, the judge was like send her in, we’ll do some investigation. My mom sent some friends of mine to meet me and she told my cousin. My cousin has a friend who knows a lawyer in Bombay who does narcotic cases. He was the one who was figuring it out what to do, what are the loopholes, etc. First of all, you’re not supposed to search somebody’s premises without their permission. But currently, when it comes to narcotics, things are different. Cops have a lot of freedom to do what they want. People think there’ll be links to the underworld. Like, there’ll be some giant gang or some scene. So, they can pick you up on anything and send you in. Forget the reality, in court they can say, I have reason to believe that this is much deeper than it looks. Now, the cops and all, they don’t give a rat’s ass about busting cartels because frankly speaking, they don’t earn that much. Their thing is extorting money from people. 

Any violence?

Honestly, the cops were being really nice. At one point, I was screaming and shouting and one of the customs officers slapped me. A woman. And at another point, they wanted to check my phone and I was like no, there’s some private stuff, etc. A lady constable slapped me because she found it very cheeky.

What were your first thoughts when you arrived there?

I was alone when I went there. The customs officers took me. Inside, they said don’t worry, you’ll be out in two weeks and shit. And, then when they were taking me, the inspector was laughing at me when I asked him about when my charge sheet will be out. He said 6 months. I was like, before that I can come out right? He was like, no, this is a non-bailable offence. He was smiling at me like he was so happy while he was telling me this. And, I was like what sort of person is this, why’s he so gleeful about my suffering? Then, I realised it’s probably because I said a lot of stupid shit in the police station. 

Like what stupid shit?

Like people are getting raped in the country and you’re worried about this stupid shit. After that I was like, I’m never talking shit again. Let the shit talking be left to those who are good at it. I called people ghaati, I said a lot of dumb shit. I got screwed because of my behaviour.

What were your first thoughts?

When I was first there, I didn’t think it was jail. Movies mein they show something else. I was in a large room, a barrack with 70 other women and they were lined up against the walls. And, the women were stuck to each other. The width would be one tile for one woman. That’s where the sleeping arrangements were. And, that’s where you keep your stuff. Once inside, you don’t have anything on me. They take everything. You can come inside and figure out how to keep your stuff. You can have three pants and three shirts - Indian clothes and that’s about it. 

Who got you your clothes?

My family. And, they sent me some money. Household people can send you cash every month. 

Is there a limit?

Like, 4 grand. Cash helps a lot inside. You can use this money to buy shit from the canteen twice a month. Like soap, snacks, etc. Chiwda and puffed rice.

What was the food like?

Awful. Breakfast was like poha or upma or sheera. They’ll use Dalda to make it and it’ll stick in your mouth. They’ll give you tea.

What was your day like?

You wake up at 6 am. After you eat, you have to rush to do the dishes outside. Or, fill your buckets. People would run to put a number at the bathing place. It was such a big deal. Brush your teeth, take a dump and bathe. There were maybe 6 style Indian style toilets for 250 women to use. Initially, it was disgusting. It was gross. A lot of people from different backgrounds and their sense of hygiene was very different. Then, you can chill for a bit before lunch. There is a library that they open once a book with mostly Marathi books and some English books. I read a bunch of books, I wrote letters to people, I doodled. 

Did you ever have your own room?

Nah. I was always with a bunch of women. Each barrack had around 70 people. We slept on the floor with one sheet and one pillow. There were three fans in the barrack. There was a point when it was really hot, they didn’t have two of the fans on. It was during lockdown, nobody was bothering to fix the fans. The jailers were lazy and slow. They’d take ages to fix anything.

What was the hardest part?

I had to always be on my guard because the people there are like that. People are very tough inside. They come from communities where they do certain things. For example, there's a group of people called Pardhis. They’re wanderers and hunters. Initially, they hunted animals and sold the meat to survive. When hunting became illegal, a lot of them turned to crime. They don’t know what else to do, they don’t have options. They’re extremely primal people.

Did you feel judged or threatened?

Initially, I felt that people did want to judge me based on my class. But, I get along very easily with people. I’ve lived a hippie kind of life. It was easy to blend in with people. I’ve never really had airs. I was really nice to everyone, even if it was a murderer or a pimp. I didn’t give a shit. I was really nice to everyone because I didn’t want trouble.

Was there violence inside?

Not exactly. I understood that the jailers come from similar backgrounds as a lot of the jailed women do. So, their behavior is their cultural norm. They shout, scream, abuse a lot, use dirty language. That’s just how they are with each other. If there was a fight between somebody who’s so-called educated, the jailer would always tell the educated person to act properly. In a weird way, this responsibility was put on people who came from perceived “better” backgrounds. Whoever had a little money, they could give it to others. If you wanted people to be nice to you, you had to help others. 

Give me an example of that.

At one point, this girl was trying to become my chamcha. I’m telling her, I don’t want you to stand up for me. People used to make a lot of fun of me because I couldn’t lift buckets of water, I couldn’t do jhadoo and pocha. This girl would get up and take my side. I’ll tell her don’t take my side. Let them make fun of me. 

Who was the girl and what was she in for?

She was in for counterfeiting money. She and her husband. From my understanding, it was her husband’s idea. 

How are the prisoners divided?

There’s two groups of people: undertrials and the second group are convicts. Undertrials come and sit for sometime and go. The convictions are usually for murder. The most dangerous murder is when they slit throats with their hand. If they’ve throttled someone with their hand, that’s considered more violent than setting somebody on fire. 

Were there people who set somebody on fire?

Yeah, yeah, there were a lot of people who were inside setting their daughter in laws on fire for some reason. 

Wow. That’s absurd.

It’s really bad. It’s not funny at all. When you meet these people and you ask them: you did this? They’re like yeah, I did this. They’re so casual and human about it. 

Were there people who were indicted wrongly?

A lot of people who came in for charges like pimping and not prostitution. Pimping is not illegal unless you’re selling kids and people without passports. A lot of those women come in because their boyfriends or husbands were doing the trade. Very few women have done those crimes themselves. A lot of them were taking shit for their husbands. There’s a lot of nuances to it. This one woman, ------, was a part of Mumbai blasts and she’s got a double life sentence for 40 years. She’s already, like, 54-55 years old. The same Sanjay Dutt thing except Sanjay Dutt got like, 5 years. 

Was she actively involved in it?

I didn’t ask her. If I’d asked her, she’d beat me up. No, she won’t beat me up but I didn’t ask her. She was there for so long. If I asked her, her little gang would come and fry me. I didn’t want any trouble.

Did you have any friends?

I made friends with one person and through her, I made friends with one more person. These were my only trustworthy people. I knew they wouldn’t try to steal from me or trick or do weird shit.

What do you mean by weird shit?

Just weird shit, man. They would get into fights a lot.

Was there any sexual violence?

Not really, no. That stuff was going on. That same girl who was trying to take my side. She asked me - do you know what a man and a woman do after marriage? I was like - yeah, dude. Then, she goes, do you think a woman can do that with another woman? I was like yeah, I’m sure they are able to. I have friends who do that. She’s like, theek hai fine. Then, firse aata hai and she’s like - do you like doing things like that with women? I was like no, baba, I’m not into all this. 

Creepy.

Creepy but sweet. To be very honest, only one person was looking for sexual satisfaction. Most women wanted companionship and somebody they could put their guard down with.

To be continued.

Image Source: Pune Mirror

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