Wear Gandhi topi and get flogged
There couldn’t be a better ‘tribute’ to Gandhi in times of Gandhigiri. Even in the 139th year of the Mahatma’s birth, the country retains in its statutes a clause “prohibiting’’ wearing the Gandhi cap, if only inside jails.
The prohibition is contained in the Punjab Jail Manual of 1916 which to date is applied for ‘’superintendence and management’’ of prisons in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Chapter 17, dealing with rules for prisoners admitted to Class A cells in the jails, it says “the wearing of political symbols such as the Gandhi cap and black pugree are strictly prohibited.’’
A colonial relic from the time British tried desperately to purge nationalist upheavals, the prohibition only underlined the political significance of the Gandhi cap.
Though not enforced in present day India, the fact that it has managed to remain in the rulebook after 60 years of independence under regimes that all swore by the Mahatma is a stark reminder of how we still live with fossilised rules not suited to reality.
The jail manual is not anachronistic just about the Gandhi cap. It has several retrograde provisions like flogging of prisoners and allowing better facilities to European inmates.
Eyebrows have been raised before, but little has been done. The Supreme Court had expressed dismay with the Manual as far back as 1978 with Justice Krishna Iyer calling for prison reforms.“We find many objectionable survivals in the Prison Manual like whipping and allergy to Gandhi cap...I hope that prison reform will receive prompt attention as the higher political echelons in the country know the need and we may not be called upon to pronounce on the inalienable minima of human rights that our Constitutional order holds dear,’’ Justice Iyer had said delivering a judgment on prisoners rights.
But things have hardly moved since. In 1980, the Home Ministry constituted an All India Commission for Jail Reforms under retired judge A N Mulla. Though it came up with a model Prison Bill, there was no action.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) too came out with a model bill in 1996 for states. Though this was circulated to the states, only few like Rajasthan responded by incorporating a chapter on the Rights and Duties of Prisoners in the Rajasthan Prisons Act of 2001.
The last news on jail reforms is that the prisons department of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) under the Ministry of Home Affairs is drafting a Model National Prison Manual.
For now, wearing the Gandhi topi can get a prisoner flogged by the jail warden.
The prohibition is contained in the Punjab Jail Manual of 1916 which to date is applied for ‘’superintendence and management’’ of prisons in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Chapter 17, dealing with rules for prisoners admitted to Class A cells in the jails, it says “the wearing of political symbols such as the Gandhi cap and black pugree are strictly prohibited.’’
A colonial relic from the time British tried desperately to purge nationalist upheavals, the prohibition only underlined the political significance of the Gandhi cap.
Though not enforced in present day India, the fact that it has managed to remain in the rulebook after 60 years of independence under regimes that all swore by the Mahatma is a stark reminder of how we still live with fossilised rules not suited to reality.
The jail manual is not anachronistic just about the Gandhi cap. It has several retrograde provisions like flogging of prisoners and allowing better facilities to European inmates.
Eyebrows have been raised before, but little has been done. The Supreme Court had expressed dismay with the Manual as far back as 1978 with Justice Krishna Iyer calling for prison reforms.“We find many objectionable survivals in the Prison Manual like whipping and allergy to Gandhi cap...I hope that prison reform will receive prompt attention as the higher political echelons in the country know the need and we may not be called upon to pronounce on the inalienable minima of human rights that our Constitutional order holds dear,’’ Justice Iyer had said delivering a judgment on prisoners rights.
But things have hardly moved since. In 1980, the Home Ministry constituted an All India Commission for Jail Reforms under retired judge A N Mulla. Though it came up with a model Prison Bill, there was no action.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) too came out with a model bill in 1996 for states. Though this was circulated to the states, only few like Rajasthan responded by incorporating a chapter on the Rights and Duties of Prisoners in the Rajasthan Prisons Act of 2001.
The last news on jail reforms is that the prisons department of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) under the Ministry of Home Affairs is drafting a Model National Prison Manual.
For now, wearing the Gandhi topi can get a prisoner flogged by the jail warden.
© Madhu Chowdery., all rights reserved.
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