Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison

Prem Kumar Vijayan

Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison

Countercurrents, 2017

Reflections on a letter from Dr G N Saibaba to his wife, on her birthday, from his cell in Nagpur Central Jail...Read more

15/10/2017 Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison – Countercurrents http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/08/16/thoughts-on-a-love-letter-from-prison/ 1/6 Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison in Human Rights — by Prem Kumar Vijayan — August 16, 2017 Porf G N Saibaba As the nation approaches yet another birthday, its seventieth, to be precise, this Independence Day, I am reminded of the letter that a dear friend of mine sent to his wife on her birthday (which also happened to be recently). She was kind enough to share that letter with many of us well-wishers – indeed, with the world, by posting it on various social media platforms (available at https://www.facebook.com/asvasantha/posts/10154865477967939). It is a moving document, ﾖlled with (and ﾖlling its readers with) a deep, poignant sadness, and yet, suffused with a vision – a hope, a dream – that rings clearly, indomitably, through all the notes of sorrow, and weariness, and even despair. It is a testament as much to the sheer grit, endurance, faith, compassion, and generosity of heart of its writer, as to that of the people he refers to in his letter – in fact, the overwhelming majority of the people of India – the poor, the socially and economically excluded and oppressed, the marginalized and downtrodden, the abused, threatened and persecuted minorities…. And yet it is a letter that above all, reafﾖrms the writer’s commitment to his beloved, his love for her, his deep appreciation of her love and care, his pain at their being torn apart, his gratitude for their years together, and his conviction in their future together – it is, in short, a love-letter, greeting his wife with the only thing he can give her on her birthday – his own redoubled commitment to their love. Who is this person, a puzzled reader might ask, and why is he so torn away from his wife that he cannot greet her on her birthday? And perhaps, above all, what is he doing writing about the poor and downtrodden of the nation, in his birthday greetings to his wife? Who does that?? An unjustly incarcerated man, serving a sentence of life imprisonment because of his commitment to those very poor and downtrodden – such a man does that. A man who has understood that the forces invested in keeping him in jail have suppressed public support for him substantially; a man whose consequent sense of loneliness has intensiﾖed to the point that he can share it only with his wife, whom he calls the ‘lone ﾖghter ﾖghting for [his] freedom’; and a man who nevertheless is so committed to the causes that have led to his incarceration, that he urges his wife to never give them up, whatever the consequences, and despite what has happened to him, so that their shared vision of a more just, humane, truly democratic society can be realized. For such a man, love cannot mean anything without this shared commitment, this shared vision, this indomitable refusal to give up – for such a man, his love for his wife is indistinguishable from his love for the people, and his commitment to her is no different from his commitment to his cause. And then, how can he write to his wife about their love and comradeship, without speaking of the very state that had violated those, when it separated the two of them so brutally? Site Search Site search... Search Join Our News Letter Name: E-mail: Subscribe Unsubscribe Denouncing Iran As A Terrorist State, Trump Refuses To Recertify Nuclear Accord - Keith Jones Much Optimism, Little Conﾒdence In Hamas-Fatah Deal - Omar Karmi Climate Change Insurgent: Tony Abbott’s Crusade - Dr Binoy Kampmark The Blood That Flows Within - Rachel Oxman Hamas Can Achieve The Right To Work For Palestinians In Lebanon By Reconciling With Fatah And Iran - Franklin Lamb Al-Britani: My Friend From ISIS In Raqqa - Murtaza Shibli Pray, But Do Not Prey - Satya Sagar ⁞ Subscription ⁞ News Letter ⁞ Fair Use ⁞ Disclaimer ⁞ Submission ⁞ Contact ⁞ About      ⁞ Home ⁞ World ⁞ India ⁞ Climate Change ⁞ Globalisation ⁞ Patriarchy ⁞ Human Rights ⁞ Life/Philosophy There are no breaking news at the moment Latest Popular Comments Tags

15/10/2017 Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison – Countercurrents http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/08/16/thoughts-on-a-love-letter-from-prison/ 2/6 Much has already come out in the news about Prof G N Saibaba, who was sensationally abducted from Delhi by the Maharashtra police in 2014, on charges of being a Naxalite, and subsequently found guilty and jailed for life. Much has also been written in the national press about the fact that Saibaba is 90% disabled, suffers from various chronic ailments including a heart condition, and that his health has been steadily deteriorating since his incarceration. His supporters have repeatedly pointed out, in the mainstream media, that even a cursory perusal of his charge-sheet, as well as of the adjudication, will reveal the absurdity of the charges against him; the gaping legal and procedural holes in the case; the baselessness of the judgement; and the complete injustice of the sentence. Nevertheless this alleged Maoist, apparently so dreaded that he will not even be moved to a hospital for medical care, continues to die a slowly accelerating death in Nagpur Central Jail. I do not know if I will see my friend alive again, as a free man. The judicial process of review, going up to the Supreme Court, is a glacially paced, slow-grinding one. I fear that by the time the case reaches the Supreme Court, and a decision is made, the “anda cell” in Nagpur Central Jail will have claimed another victim. It adds to my sadness when I read his letter, and think of how he may never live to ﾖght as a free man again, for the world he wants so passionately. It saddens me to think of the world as we know it without his grit and determination, his ﾖerce commitment, his thoughtful decisiveness, his vision. I know it will be a vastly poorer world. Saibaba had fought long and hard against the coming of that world – indeed, he had been gaining a reputation as one of the strongest voices in Indian civil society, especially against state repression and social injustice. been expecting knew his arrest was a possibility, before, that it. His very effectiveness in this ﾖght was, as many of us – Saibaba included – began to apprehend, bound to provoke a strong reaction. When the Maharashtra police team came to interrogate him at his residence, we realized that our apprehensions were turning real; and when Saibaba was told by them that nothing would happen to him if he ceased all his political activity, our realization was conﾖrmed. After that, we knew it was a matter of time before he was picked up by the state. We used to discuss the coming of this world, in which dissenting and protesting voices would be silenced, even through the extreme step of incarceration. Saibaba is in prison now; unlike all we who sleep tonight though, secure in the belief that we aren’t, he knows he is in one. But the sad fact, with an irony far beyond the tragic, is that today, the terrorism of ‘national security’ has spread so much that people are slowly, voluntarily, allowing themselves to be imprisoned, in the belief that they need to be ‘secured’. And those who are not willingly walking towards their incarceration by ‘national security’, are being ‘imprisoned’ in various other ways, in ‘virtual’ prisons that they may not even be aware of. It is true that, unlike the ‘virtual’ prisons we occupy, Saibaba’s prison is real, its pain and isolation an everyday hell from which he may not be saved in time. But our ‘virtual’ prisons are far more insidious, as dangerous as Saibaba’s real one, and are being put in place systematically, incrementally, inexorably. This ‘virtual’ prison system is taking shape as a complex, layered, integrated system of conditionalities, stipulations, pre-requisites, limitations and other such measures, that will monitor, regulate, control and sanction all social and economic relations, across the country. It is a system designed to enforce dependencies, especially ﾖnancial and administrative, through which to thereby subjugate the populace. At the core of this, is the process of relentless privatization, through which the ﾖnancial indebtedness of the populace will gradually become widespread and irreversible. This in turn will be facilitated and enforced by the state, through acquiring extensive and intimate information about each person, so that they are already always under continuous, perpetual surveillance. And this in turn is allowing the belief to spread that, ‘surveillance achcha hain’. (After all, in these achche din, if a daag can be achche, why not surveillance?!) This is the world that is tightening its glittering chains around the very people Saibaba fought so hard for. So, yes, of course, these ‘virtual’ prisons remain a far cry from the agonizing and life-threatening conditions that Saibaba himself is suffering in his “anda cell”, everyday. But what makes them as poisonous and lethal is the fact that we ourselves, its inmates, are being led to want it, and to want to perpetuate it, because its fetters – in the unforgettable words of William Blake – are ‘mind-forg’d manacles’. I do not think his love for these people, his people, would lessen in any way, just because they too, are slowly succumbing to this world, where human voices will never wake them, and they will drown. Rather, I believe his sorrow will only increase, at the way in which a cynical, ruthless, unscrupulous, government can manipulate, deceive, and intimidate its own people into such a situation, where surveillance is a default setting, and in which being watched all the time is the only aadhar on which they can claim to be a part of this nation. That is why today, as I read that letter again, I think of it not so much as a love-letter to his wife, on her birthday; but as a love-letter to the people of this country, on the eve of the birthday of the nation. Prem Kumar Vijayan, Assistant Professor, Hindu College, Delhi See All » Why Did Hyderabad Die? - Mirza Yawar Baig Women Hold The Key To The Battle Against Poverty - Moin Qazi Trump Puts Israel First With UNESCO Withdrawal - Ali Abunimah Wildﾒres, Hurricanes, Tornadoes! - Sally Dugman Dalit Girl Paraded As ‘Thief’ In Nepal - Asian Human Rights Commission Aﾕrmative Action In Temple Appointments: Kerala Shows The Way - Thumakunta Vasantha A Refreshing Introduction To Islam - Moin Qazi Gang-Rape At Gun Point Of A Minor Girl By Men In Uniform In Odisha - Press Release Deendayal Upadhyaya : ‘BJP’s Gandhi’ ! - Subhash Gatade Interview With The Leader Of The Arab Struggle Movement For The Liberation of Ahwaz - Rahim Hamid Crime - K P Sasi Retired School Principal Honoured For Keeping The Story Of A Muslim Freedom Fighter Alive - Press Release Spain Moves Toward Military Rule In Catalonia - Alex Lantier Videos Chennai Poromboke Paadal ft. TM Krishna Chennai Poromboke Paadal ft. …

15/10/2017 Subscription Home ⁞ Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison – Countercurrents ⁞ News Letter World ⁞ ⁞ ⁞ Fair Use India ⁞ Disclaimer ⁞ Submission Climate Change ⁞ ⁞ Contact ⁞ Globalisation About ⁞ ⁞ Patriarchy  ⁞ Human Rights ⁞     ⁞ Life/Philosophy There are no breaking news at the moment Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison in Human Rights — by Prem Kumar Vijayan — August 16, 2017 Site Search Site search... Search Join Our News Letter Name: E-mail: Porf G N Saibaba As the nation approaches yet another birthday, its seventieth, to be precise, this Independence Day, I Subscribe Unsubscribe am reminded of the letter that a dear friend of mine sent to his wife on her birthday (which also happened to be recently). She was kind enough to share that letter with many of us well-wishers – indeed, with the world, by posting it on various social media platforms (available at Latest Popular Comments Tags https://www.facebook.com/asvasantha/posts/10154865477967939). It is a moving document, lled with (and lling its readers with) a deep, poignant sadness, and yet, suffused with a vision – a hope, Denouncing Iran As A Terrorist a dream – that rings clearly, indomitably, through all the notes of sorrow, and weariness, and even State, Trump Refuses To despair. It is a testament as much to the sheer grit, endurance, faith, compassion, and generosity of heart of its writer, as to that of the people he refers to in his letter – in fact, the overwhelming Recertify Nuclear Accord - Keith Jones majority of the people of India – the poor, the socially and economically excluded and oppressed, the marginalized and downtrodden, the abused, threatened and persecuted minorities…. And yet it is Much Optimism, Little a letter that above all, reaf rms the writer’s commitment to his beloved, his love for her, his deep Con dence In Hamas-Fatah Deal appreciation of her love and care, his pain at their being torn apart, his gratitude for their years - Omar Karmi together, and his conviction in their future together – it is, in short, a love-letter, greeting his wife with the only thing he can give her on her birthday – his own redoubled commitment to their love. Climate Change Insurgent: Tony Abbott’s Crusade - Dr Binoy Who is this person, a puzzled reader might ask, and why is he so torn away from his wife that he Kampmark cannot greet her on her birthday? And perhaps, above all, what is he doing writing about the poor and downtrodden of the nation, in his birthday greetings to his wife? Who does that?? An unjustly incarcerated man, serving a sentence of life imprisonment because of his commitment The Blood That Flows Within Rachel Oxman to those very poor and downtrodden – such a man does that. A man who has understood that the forces invested in keeping him in jail have suppressed public support for him substantially; a man Hamas Can Achieve The Right whose consequent sense of loneliness has intensi ed to the point that he can share it only with his To Work For Palestinians In wife, whom he calls the ‘lone ghter ghting for [his] freedom’; and a man who nevertheless is so committed to the causes that have led to his incarceration, that he urges his wife to never give them Lebanon By Reconciling With Fatah And Iran - Franklin Lamb up, whatever the consequences, and despite what has happened to him, so that their shared vision of a more just, humane, truly democratic society can be realized. For such a man, love cannot mean Al-Britani: My Friend From ISIS anything without this shared commitment, this shared vision, this indomitable refusal to give up – In Raqqa - Murtaza Shibli for such a man, his love for his wife is indistinguishable from his love for the people, and his commitment to her is no different from his commitment to his cause. And then, how can he write to his wife about their love and comradeship, without speaking of the very state that had violated those, when it separated the two of them so brutally? http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/08/16/thoughts-on-a-love-letter-from-prison/ Pray, But Do Not Prey - Satya Sagar 1/6 15/10/2017 Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison – Countercurrents Much has already come out in the news about Prof G N Saibaba, who was sensationally abducted Why Did Hyderabad Die? - Mirza from Delhi by the Maharashtra police in 2014, on charges of being a Naxalite, and subsequently Yawar Baig found guilty and jailed for life. Much has also been written in the national press about the fact that Saibaba is 90% disabled, suffers from various chronic ailments including a heart condition, and that Women Hold The Key To The his health has been steadily deteriorating since his incarceration. His supporters have repeatedly Battle Against Poverty - Moin pointed out, in the mainstream media, that even a cursory perusal of his charge-sheet, as well as of Qazi the adjudication, will reveal the absurdity of the charges against him; the gaping legal and procedural holes in the case; the baselessness of the judgement; and the complete injustice of the Trump Puts Israel First With sentence. Nevertheless this alleged Maoist, apparently so dreaded that he will not even be moved to UNESCO Withdrawal - Ali a hospital for medical care, continues to die a slowly accelerating death in Nagpur Central Jail. Abunimah I do not know if I will see my friend alive again, as a free man. The judicial process of review, going Wild res, Hurricanes, up to the Supreme Court, is a glacially paced, slow-grinding one. I fear that by the time the case Tornadoes! - Sally Dugman reaches the Supreme Court, and a decision is made, the “anda cell” in Nagpur Central Jail will have claimed another victim. It adds to my sadness when I read his letter, and think of how he may never live to ght as a free man again, for the world he wants so passionately. It saddens me to think of the Dalit Girl Paraded As ‘Thief’ In world as we know it without his grit and determination, his erce commitment, his thoughtful Nepal - Asian Human Rights decisiveness, his vision. I know it will be a vastly poorer world. Commission Saibaba had fought long and hard against the coming of that world – indeed, he had been gaining a A rmative Action In Temple reputation as one of the strongest voices in Indian civil society, especially against state repression Appointments: Kerala Shows and social injustice. been expecting knew his arrest was a possibility, before, that it. His very effectiveness in this ght was, as many of us – Saibaba included – began to apprehend, bound to provoke a strong reaction. When the Maharashtra police team came to interrogate him at his The Way - Thumakunta Vasantha residence, we realized that our apprehensions were turning real; and when Saibaba was told by A Refreshing Introduction To them that nothing would happen to him if he ceased all his political activity, our realization was Islam - Moin Qazi con rmed. After that, we knew it was a matter of time before he was picked up by the state. We used to discuss the coming of this world, in which dissenting and protesting voices would be silenced, even through the extreme step of incarceration. Gang-Rape At Gun Point Of A Saibaba is in prison now; unlike all we who sleep tonight though, secure in the belief that we aren’t, Odisha - Press Release Minor Girl By Men In Uniform In he knows he is in one. But the sad fact, with an irony far beyond the tragic, is that today, the terrorism of ‘national security’ has spread so much that people are slowly, voluntarily, allowing Deendayal Upadhyaya : ‘BJP’s themselves to be imprisoned, in the belief that they need to be ‘secured’. And those who are not Gandhi’ ! - Subhash Gatade willingly walking towards their incarceration by ‘national security’, are being ‘imprisoned’ in various other ways, in ‘virtual’ prisons that they may not even be aware of. It is true that, unlike the ‘virtual’ Interview With The Leader Of prisons we occupy, Saibaba’s prison is real, its pain and isolation an everyday hell from which he The Arab Struggle Movement may not be saved in time. But our ‘virtual’ prisons are far more insidious, as dangerous as Saibaba’s real one, and are being put in place systematically, incrementally, inexorably. For The Liberation of Ahwaz Rahim Hamid This ‘virtual’ prison system is taking shape as a complex, layered, integrated system of Crime - K P Sasi conditionalities, stipulations, pre-requisites, limitations and other such measures, that will monitor, regulate, control and sanction all social and economic relations, across the country. It is a system designed to enforce dependencies, especially nancial and administrative, through which to thereby subjugate the populace. At the core of this, is the process of relentless privatization, through which Retired School Principal the nancial indebtedness of the populace will gradually become widespread and irreversible. This Honoured For Keeping The in turn will be facilitated and enforced by the state, through acquiring extensive and intimate information about each person, so that they are already always under continuous, perpetual surveillance. And this in turn is allowing the belief to spread that, ‘surveillance achcha hain’. (After Story Of A Muslim Freedom Fighter Alive - Press Release all, in these achche din, if a daag can be achche, why not surveillance?!) This is the world that is Spain Moves Toward Military tightening its glittering chains around the very people Saibaba fought so hard for. So, yes, of course, Rule In Catalonia - Alex Lantier these ‘virtual’ prisons remain a far cry from the agonizing and life-threatening conditions that Saibaba himself is suffering in his “anda cell”, everyday. But what makes them as poisonous and lethal is the fact that we ourselves, its inmates, are being led to want it, and to want to perpetuate it, because its fetters – in the unforgettable words of William Blake – are ‘mind-forg’d manacles’. Videos See All » I do not think his love for these people, his people, would lessen in any way, just because they too, are slowly succumbing to this world, where human voices will never wake them, and they will drown. Rather, I believe his sorrow will only increase, at the way in which a cynical, ruthless, unscrupulous, Chennai Poromboke Paadal ft. … government can manipulate, deceive, and intimidate its own people into such a situation, where surveillance is a default setting, and in which being watched all the time is the only aadhar on which they can claim to be a part of this nation. That is why today, as I read that letter again, I think of it not so much as a love-letter to his wife, on her birthday; but as a love-letter to the people of this country, on the eve of the birthday of the nation. Chennai Poromboke Paadal ft. TM Prem Kumar Vijayan, Assistant Professor, Hindu College, Delhi Krishna http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/08/16/thoughts-on-a-love-letter-from-prison/ 2/6 15/10/2017 Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison – Countercurrents Share this:              22 Editor’s Picks Related In India, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences Ditches Science for Spin in Push for GM Mustard July 12, 2017 In "Environmental Protection" The Economic And Political Weekly Is Dying September 19, 2017 In "India" Remembering MLK January 17, 2017 In "Life/Philosophy" Adivasis Dance Today: The First Ever FIR Filed Against Durga Puja by Dr Goldy M. George — 39 comments Tags: G N Saibaba I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it Evelyn Beatrice Hall Durga pooja and 4 Comments Dussehra may be a day of celebration of Sally Dugman Brahmanic Hindus of India. But not for the Adivasis. It is also the day when their August 16, 2017 at 11:07 am ancestors/gods are killed and their killing I know a number of people, mostly paci sts from Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) is being celebrated. But not anymore. background and Catholic Worker Movement, incarcerated in the USA for acts of civil [Read More…] disobedience. They know yet others, who joined their ranks like a blind nun in her eighties and a Quaker elder of great standing in her 90’s, who were also jailed. … Unless we continue to stand up in various ways against injustice and moral wrongs, no change will come. So we have to be dedicated and brave. You may like to check out the writing at this link: The Letter from Birmingham Jail, also known as the Letter from Birmingham City Jail and Share this:              8K+ 4 The Negro Is Your Brother, is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. The letter defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. The Bullet Train by Letter from Birmingham Jail – Wikipedia Poet Aadhar No: 9876 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_from_Birmingham_Jail 5432 1001 ( The rst Aadhaar linked poem) P K Vijayan by Ra Sh — 6 comments August 16, 2017 at 5:15 pm Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and for your solidarity. Thanks also for the Dear Gauri….. A Letter link to Martin Luther King’s letter – much food for thought there. To Gauri Lankesh by Anitha S — 1 comment K SHESHU BABU August 16, 2017 at 5:24 pm Inspire of sufferings, Saibaba expresses con dence and optimism that ‘ we will win’ and Archives that is the driving force behind his strength even in harsh conditions in his life. Prison walls cannot stop his voice full of humanity and love of society where everyone is equal. State repression may have killed ‘ Charabandaraju’ but his lyrics and poetry ae still inspiring many people. Saibaba will overcome all troubles by his sheer will to stand up in solidarity with the adivasis, dalits and weaker sections. Red salutes ! October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 gurpreet singh May 2017 August 21, 2017 at 2:38 am April 2017 Great piece. Thanks for sharing such a moving letter from Comrade Saibaba. India should March 2017 actually be grateful to men like him for educating the masses, but the government is February 2017 determined to kill him by using legal means to create fear and suppress any voice of January 2017 dissent. December 2016 November 2016 http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/08/16/thoughts-on-a-love-letter-from-prison/ 3/6 15/10/2017 Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison – Countercurrents October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 Countercurrents.org Liked 88K likes You and 119 other friends like this Follow @Countercurrents Countercurrents google.com/+CountercurrentsOrg Educate! Organize! Agitate! 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In December 2018, the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) across the globe pledge to bolster their support for human rights defenders amidst a growing climate of threats and reprisals. While adopting the Marrakech Declaration and reaffirming the principles of Paris Declaration, NHRIs recognized that "Human rights defenders have a positive, important and legitimate role in contributing to the realisation of all human rights, at the local, national, regional and international levels,". The National Human Rights Commission of India too, in its recent workshop organized in June 2019 observed that human rights defenders play a crucial role in a democracy and that the Commission is endeavored to create the enabling environment for the safeguard of human rights of defenders. Yet, the situation in India is that human rights defenders have been targeted, attacked, harassed, threatened and have been charged in false cases by both the state and the non-state actors including police, armed groups and private actors. The mighty bureaucratic state apparatus abuses all its power to crush any resistance. More specifically, over the recent years, the role of the state has been transforming from the `welfare’ regime to the capitalist neoliberal order, therefore a situation is created where common people are forced to resist. But those ruling elite exploit all their might and resources to make sure that it sends the loud message that the dissent will not be tolerated. The elitist, caste-based, majority-linked misogynist hegemony oiled by inequality of division of capital is destroying the idea of the diverse plural country. The scale of violation and abuse of power by the state and not state actors is increasing over the years. The situation is that those who have been advocating for the rights of the marginalized and indigenous communities are those who have been facing grave onslaught of threats. Some have been shot dead, others have been implicated in the false cases, facing censorship, physically assaulted, kidnapped, involved in the unjust prosecution, unlawful, arbitrary detention, forced disappearances, unauthorized searches, financial threat of losing livelihoods or are being intimidated. Those working on the issues such as caste-based discrimination, environment, land rights, right to information, business and human rights are particularly vulnerable to undue arbitrary intimidation, arrest, threat, restriction and detention. Poets, journalists, artists, lawyers, activists, and many other such professionals are being specifically targeted because they are perceived as a threat by the ruling elite. These new forms of emerging challenges before the HRDs call for rigorous efforts to safeguard their rights. This write up looks at the emerging challenges and suggests that the institutions such as NHRC, the civil society and the international organizations should proactively act expeditiously to devise the measures to defend the HRDs.

The more than two million incarcerated persons in U.S. prisons, jails, and other correctional facilities are not isolated individuals existing in a vacuum, but are embedded in larger intricate family systems nested within a macrosystem. Incarceration significantly transforms familial relationships by altering the function, formation, and organization of the family system. The institutions of prison and family require differing role obligations and adhere to disparate value orientations. Despite the requirements of correctional institutions, it is imperative for inmates to remain embedded in pro-social familial roles for myriad reasons, including: the family unit informs individuals of their expected role behaviors and obligations, the maintenance of inmate-family relationships is cited as facilitating positive in-prison behavior and successful reintegration, and prisoners are likely to rely on their families to provide support post-incarceration. The dissertation research extends criminological works by uncovering the strategies utilized by prisoners to manage the simultaneous enactment and performance of prison and familial roles during visitation sessions when directly faced with conflicting role expectations, and throughout the prison sentence. The research draws on 25 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with male prisoners, 12 hours of observations at prison visitation sessions, and a prisoner focus group conducted at a New Jersey state male prison. The qualitative study, guided by a grounded theory methodological approach, was informed using an integration of role strain and role transition theories. The data analysis revealed the emergence of four role negotiator categories − Sustainer, Deserter, Dependent, and Restorer − embedded in a typology labeled as the Incarcerated Role Negotiator (IRN). Participants were grouped into IRN categories based on the demonstrated form of negotiation implemented to manage the incompatible role sets. The defining features of Incarcerated Role Negotiators centered on (a) pre-prison investments in the family, (b) role performances and behaviors, (c) contact with role senders, and (d) self-identity. The identification of Incarcerated Role Negotiators begins to address the knowledge gap in research pertaining to prisoner-family relationships and gives voice to the often neglected marginalized group of incarcerated individuals. Furthermore, the findings have several practical and policy implications for local, state, and federal agencies that manage correctional populations.

Section 498A was introduced in 1983 by the Criminal Law (Second) Amendment Act in the Indian Penal Code. It recognizes cruelty against a married woman by her husband and in-laws as a crime for which it lays down punishment of imprisonment which may extend up to three years and/or fine. Seen as a significant legal provision introduced after extensive pressure from women activists and lawyers besides being discussed in the Parliament during the 1980s, it criminalized violence within homes for the first time and empowered married women who faced violence in the marital house to raise their voice against such abuse. Section 498A puts the onus on the State to remedy the situation of women facing torture in the `sacred’ private familial domain. However, over the years it has been seen that domestic violence is being treated as a lesser crime by the police as well as the judiciary who constitute the primary agencies for enforcement and implementation of this law. The state, in fact, is reluctant to act against the perpetrators of violence. Instead of addressing the existing social realities or expanding the definition of domestic violence to include other forms of crimes against women within homes, less attention is paid to abuse inflicted within the families. Rather, an unreasonable and baseless myth of abuse and misuse of Section 498A has been propagated to underplay the seriousness of the crime committed within the four walls of the house. The state promotes the normative ideal of conjugality and in the process, ends up reinforcing gender injustice. This results in a scenario where those working with the victims of domestic violence use Section 498A as a strategic and pragmatic tool to bring the husband to the negotiating table to arrive at a samjhauta (compromise). Therefore, instead of punishing the guilty, the legal system is being manipulated to arrive at a `settlement’ with the accused. One of the fallouts of such an action is a lower conviction rate. Instead of making a dent on the patriarchal social order, this legal provision has been used to reiterate existing biases and stereotypes against women. The situation today is that domestic violence is treated as a `social crime’ when compared with violence by strangers, even though it is much more severe in nature. Why is wife beating considered as a lesser crime by the state, society and the law? Why is the perpetrator of this crime not held accountable for his actions? Why are different parameters and standards of justice utilized when a woman is abused? Why has the criminal justice system failed to deliver justice to the victims of domestic violence? How effective is the strategy adopted by the women’s movement in India whereby a heavy emphasis is placed on legal reforms to achieve the goal of gender justice? Why has the state failed to see women as autonomous citizens outside the construct of family or kinship? Why could the remedies beyond the law, such as provision of shelter homes or material and economic support for women not be implemented? This study examines these questions while using secondary data and refers to the multidisciplinary research studies and reports on the issue from the perspectives of the survivors to focus on a `bubble up’ approach rather than the `top down’ style of understanding the issue of domestic violence.

The neoliberal economy has changed the manner in which labour, love and relationships have been recognized, appreciated and structured in a society. The economic crisis which has cropped up in recent years, where the employment is shrinking, the economy is deteriorating, the common people are left with little options to earn their livelihoods and the state is rolling back from its welfare role, all this is making a significant impact on social relations. These economic changes are also making deep impact on the social institution of marriage and family which is weakening and is being threatened in the given neoliberal environment where money is replacing love, commercialization is substituting the social and the emotional bonds, the civic relations are waning and fading away and where the community support is gradually becoming extinct. The consumer paradigm in the free market economy now put an onus on the individual to seek services such as health, education or employment in the market rather than putting onus on the state or the community to provide for these basic services. This paradigm is deeply affecting the men and women on the margins. More importantly, when the institution of marriage breakdowns and the women are compelled to walk out of the marital relation with no support from the state, community or extended family, their situation becomes challenging. In the absence of the matrimonial property rights, women who abandoned, separated or are divorced, are deprived of any right to assets in the marital property owned by the husbands in the patriarchal society. Neither the law nor the society recognizes the contribution of women in the marital household. This paper looks at two cases going on or have been tried in the family courts and the struggle within the courtroom at the time when the institution of marriage breakdown and the individuals, as men and women, are being left vulnerable in their struggle for survival. It concludes that despite of the legal provisions relating to maintenance, mediation, protection of women against domestic violence, men and women and most importantly, men who are poor, and, women in general, are compelled to struggle in their daily lives. Neither the law could neither imagine the situations outside the paradox of the family nor the free market approach has helped in any way to advocate for the social policies that could offer alternatives lead a life with dignity in situations where economic, social and political life is transforming in the market driven economy. Trapped in the web of legal technicalities and the complexities of free market norms, these men and women are facing increasing vulnerabilities, where the state has refused to bail them out in any manner. It is therefore suggested that the law relating to divorce needs to be reconsidered with matrimonial property to be divided equally among the separating parties and more importantly the rights of women to marital property be examined. Giving women equal rights in the marital property is not only a moral imperative but also an economic necessity for any economy. It is also recommended that while considering the ill-effects of the capitalist economy, the concept of the provisions of social security and the welfare support measures need to strengthened, and in cases of breakdown of the institution of marriage, wherever required, special provisions to be made to support the women and children in vulnerable situations.

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Thoughts On A Love-Letter From Prison