April 2017
2278 -0742
“You are lying. I have your passport. Do you want to see it? (My Years 15). Mary Tyler says Man’s cruelty to man is unbelievable. She gives an account of her years in Hazaribagh jail which reflects largely the background and nature of her co-prisoners crimes and inhuman atmosphere in Indian jail. The police charged Mary Tyler along with fifty-one others including her husband, Amalendu Sen with insurgency. The suffocating and deplorable conditions of women in the prison are horrible. According to Tyler “There were never less than forty prisoners and when we finally left Jamshedpur two years later, there were forty four women and twelve children sharing the fifteen feet square cage”(My Years ) The daily interrogation took place at frequent intervals and the newspaper with headlines describing her as a “Guerilla girl” and accusing her "variously of having tried to blow up a uranium complex, engaging in a forest gun battle with police and bombing a police station." (My Years 32). It let Mary Tyler go into distress. The treatment meted out to those arrested under the pretext of being naxalites, breaks even those standards set by jail authorities themselves. Lack of proper accommodation, bad food and an almost complete absence of medical facilities were the basic problems of the prisoners encounter. The food served to the prisoners was soggy rice mixed with stones and paddy husk, blackish green water consisting of a few lentils and five or six pieces of potatoes complete with speckled skin pieces and coated with a slimy sauce. The monsoon season worsened the situation of the prisoners who were packed in rooms with leaking roofs soaking themselves when it rained, during freezing temperatures. The prisoners covered themselves in dirty old blankets. Mary Tyler was stunned by the unresponsiveness of the jail staff that never ventured out in those downpours and took a note of their problems. Mary Tyler also remarks about indifference of the Indian authorities who were disputing the validity of her marriage with Amalendu Sen and prevented her to meet her husband Amalendu. Mary Tyler has learned of many prisoners, several of whom had young children, too small at the time of arrest to separate from their mothers, but grow up in jail. Mary being an alien shares her experiences of joy and sorrow with them overcoming the barriers of language and is touched by the co-prisoners problems. She became closer to them and empathizes with their feelings.
The arrival of an exquisite lady, the secretary of coalmine, who was arrested in connection with the murder of a mine manager at the Kedla colliery, Hazaribagh captured the attention of Mary Tyler and other prisoners. The treatment of the jail authorities befitting her status as a “political prisoner” increased their curiosity. Expensive western foods, Indian delicacies, costly garments and countless pairs of sandals were provided to her. The political prisoner commanded several servants from among the female prisoners to work for her from dawn to dusk for no payment. The political prisoners were treated with indulgence and difference by the jail staff, who were uncomfortably aware that in the ebb and flow of the type of politics prevalent in India, those now in custody might one day be in power (My Years 48).
Volume 6 Issue 1
www.ijells.com
Page 71
The label affixed to the writer Mary Tyler as Gorilla Girl / Naxalite leader points out to the stark discrepancies in the police system of Hazaribagh Central jail. She observes the ill treatment of the prisoners in the hands of government authorities adds to the poor functioning of the democratic system in India.