By Stuti Shah
Mumbai: It was my third day navigating the corridors of Mumbai’s Byculla Women’s Prison, as part of my fieldwork across prisons in five Indian states to learn about their pathways to prison, their worries and vulnerabilities, their experiences in prison, and the life they dreamt of post-release.
I found myself on the ground floor of Circle 1 which functions much like a smaller jail within the larger prison compound. Amidst the din and flurry of women rushing about their chores during the eight hours that the barracks remained open every day, I found myself gravitating towards a woman quietly engrossed in a game of chess inside a barrack.
This was my serendipitous encounter with Shoma Sen, 66, scholar and professor of English literature, women’s studies and post-colonialism, imprisoned for close to six years in what is now commonly known as the Elgaar Parishad or Bhima-Koregaon case.
Though I had followed Sen’s case for a while, she was now almost unrecognisable in the harsh confines of the prison. Clad in a simple cotton beige and green salwar and kurta, with a calm and gentle disposition, she was kind enough to speak to me at length before directing me to her co-accused and singer 37-year-old Jyoti Jagtap, who lived in a barrack on the first floor of the same building.
This story was originally published in article-14.com. Read the full story here.
