We’ve all been conditioned to believe that prisoners are dangerous. After all, they are robbers, thieves, murderers, rapists, gangsters and what not! The general notion of prisoners around the world is that they’re bad humans. But, a recent incident from Tihar jail will change your perception about these ‘criminals’, for sure!
40-year-old Bhaskar Malik was found guilty of murder and was hence serving his jail term for the last 13 years. He was granted parole to visit his family in a village in Odisha in June this year. But on his way back home, Malik suffered a heart attack in the train and passed away.
Malik is survived by his wife, his 75-year-old father and a 12-year-old son in the village. The financial outlook for his family is bleak at best. The only source of their income is through the four goats that they own. Malik also used to send money to his family through the wages that he earned in the jail.
After Malik’s death, his family was reportedly planning to commit suicide owing to the financial crisis. But, Malik’s jail inmates came to their rescue and raised around Rs. 3 lakh from their daily wages for his family. Apart from his inmates, the jail officials too contributed an amount of around Rs 22,000 for the same.
“This is the first time in the history of prisons, such a strong and impactful message has been given by the Central Jail number 4 inmates to the society, by volunteering to help the family of their fellow inmate, said Rajesh Chauhan, Superintendent, Central Jail No 4, told India Today.
In order to help the grief-stricken family of Malik, the jail authorities asked the inmates of jail No. 4 in the Tihar jail to come forward and raise funds for them. The jail inmates did not think twice in contributing and managed to collect a total of Rs 3.17 Lakh for Malik’s family. Some of them have also contributed their entire month’s wages which they earn from doing several jobs like cooking, sweeping, cleaning, jute bag manufacturing, etc in jail.
