Only the poor are hanged, they are not able to get good lawyers… Why is the former jailer of Tihar vocal against death penalty?

New Delhi : Sunil Kumar Gupta has been a jailer in Tihar Jail. Gupta’s 35-year tenure in Tihar has been full of drama. During this time there were encounters, executions, escapes and much-needed prison reforms of high-profile prisoners like Charles Sobhraj. After retirement, he/she narrated his/her experiences in ‘Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer’. Gupta, whose book written together has now become a web series. Gupta talked about biases and challenges in the prison system.Question: ‘Black Warrant’ is a death sentence given to a prisoner. What was the reaction of the different prisoners when you narrated it?
answer : During my tenure in Tihar, eight people were hanged. These include Ranga-Billa, Kashmiri separatists Maqbool Bhat, Bhai Kartar and Ujagar Singh to Indira Gandhi’s murderers Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh and Afzal Guru, whose hanging I myself witnessed. Most of the people awaiting execution are very sad.

The only exception I found was Afzal Guru. When she was informed about his/her execution, she started singing a Bollywood song, ‘Apne liye jiye to kya jiye, tu ji ae dil jamane ke liye’. he/she claimed that he/she was not a terrorist, but he/she was labeled a terrorist. he/she said, ‘If I were a terrorist, I would not ensure that my child becomes a doctor’.

Question: After seeing so many capital punishment cases, what is your opinion about death penalty?
answer : I have always been against it. In India, about 82% of people in prison come from disadvantaged backgrounds. They do not have access to competent legal representation. They rely on legal aid lawyers who are unqualified to handle their cases. In the Nirbhaya case, all four convicts did not have a strong legal defence, due to which they were hanged together. In the Indira Gandhi assassination case, three assassins were convicted, but Balbir Singh, whose lawyer was Ram Jethmalani, was acquitted.

This pattern repeats itself. Individuals with high profile lawyers often escape harsh punishment. Take the case of Afzal Guru. he/she was dependent on legal aid provided by the state government. If he/she had got a better lawyer, his/her fate might have been different. In the Nithari case, Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher were acquitted despite serious charges because they were defended by prominent lawyers in the Supreme Court.

Gupta said that if the death penalty is being used as a deterrent, it is not working. There are an average of 78 murders every day. The Supreme Court has recently started giving such punishments, under which a person will have to spend a large part of his/her life in jail. In my opinion, such punishments would be more effective in reducing crime than the death penalty.

Question: You saw that VIP prisoners like Charles Sobhraj get special facilities. Tell us about bias in the prison system.
answer : After spending 35 years in Tihar Jail, I have seen that the corruption outside is visible inside also. Generally, influential prisoners get access to more social contacts, home-cooked food, TV, private treatment, etc. Ordinary prisoners who make similar demands also face the risk of punishment or beating.

Question: What other types of inequalities are prevalent in the system?
answer : When I came to Tihar in 1981, caste-based practices were still codified. For example, it was written that the Bhangi caste should clean the sewers. We removed this old rule within two years. Interestingly, today sewer cleaning has become the most sought-after job within the Tihar system because it offers better relaxations: seven days a month compared to five days for other jobs.

Interestingly, another old rule of the 1947 jail manual was the ban on wearing Gandhi cap. This rule, which originally targeted revolutionaries, was absurdly still being enforced. We fixed this too.

Question: What challenges arise due to high number of prisoners in jail?
answer :In 2022, the number of undertrials constituted a staggering 76% of the prison population across the country, while in Delhi jails the number was even higher at 82%. In developed countries, undertrials account for about 25% of the prison population. There are no rules or guidelines stipulating any specific time frame for resolving cases depending on their severity. Without clear deadlines and penalties for delays, the system remains inefficient and unresponsive.

The management of undertrials presents unique challenges to jailers or prison staff. While in state custody, convicts may be disciplined through punishments outlined in prison manuals, such as remission or deduction of pay or the imposition of shackles. However, undertrial prisoners are in judicial custody, leaving little scope for enforcing discipline.

If an undertrial attacks or kills someone else, the only option is to file a fresh case with the police. And they’re already in jail, so why would they care? Lack of this prevention leads to many problems, such as attacks on each other, bribing of employees, etc.

Question: What prison reform are you most proud of?
answer : In the early 1990s, during Kiran Bedi’s tenure, we passed a rule that no prisoner would be subjected to third-degree torture or physical beating by jail staff. When this was announced, the entire staff protested, claiming that it was impossible to run a prison without beatings.

Kiran Bedi asked him/her, how many times have you beaten any habitual criminal or gangster? (laughs) The truth was that they rarely dared to touch the gangster. Instead, they targeted vulnerable prisoners – those who could not retaliate to extort money or for their own sadistic pleasure. When he/she pointed this out, there was silence in the room. By the time I retired, physical violence had become the exception, not the norm.

Question: Is there any more in-depth information about the prison system?
answer : My next book is on the tactics used by prisoners to escape from custody. Tihar Jail has been a trendsetter not only in reforms but also in escapes. These escapes are rarely dramatic and involve subterfuge. In 1986, Sobhraj had laced sweets with intoxicants to disarm jail officials.

Whereas Sher Singh Rana (who had murdered Phoolan Devi) escaped in 2004 with the help of a person posing as a police officer. In 1995, an inmate scaled three walls using a sanitary pipe. In 1992 a prisoner escaped wearing a sleeping officer’s uniform after giving him/her a head massage; When he/she came out, the guard saluted him/her! In contrast, in states such as Punjab and UP, escapes often involve direct confrontation, such as threatening guards with guns.