Mentally ill woman in jail for 21 years

Mentally ill woman in jail for 21 years TNN | Nov 18, 2011, 07.35AM IST CHENNAI: In April this year, Pakka alias Vijaya completed 21 years as an inmate of the special prison for women at Vellore. Sentenced to life term for murder, she is one among countless such convicts in Indian jails. But what makes her case different is that she is speech impaired and the long years in prison have left her mentally ill. Now, Vijaya's plight has been brought to the notice of the Madras high court through a habeas corpus petition filed by advocate P Pugalenthi. Saying that Vijaya, now 53, neither gets medical attention nor counselling in jail, Pugalenthi has sought her premature release. Taking up the petition, a division bench comprising Justice C Nagappan and Justice T Sudanthiram on Thursday issued notice to the state government and adjourned the matter for two weeks. Pugalenthi, who is director of Prisoners Rights Forum, said he came to know about the plight of Vijaya from Nalini Sriharan, who is serving life imprisonment in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. According to the petition, Vijaya and her husband Subramani (now 55) were convicted in a murder for gain case and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. They were found guilty by a sessions court in Coimbatore of offences such as murder, robbery and dacoity. Vijaya has been in jail since April 10, 1990, and not even relatives visit her, he said. She was suffering without appropriate medical treatment or counseling, the petition said, adding that even her husband lodged in men's prison across the road was highly depressed. Unable to talk, she communicates with others by means of signs, it said. Pugalenthi said he made a representation to the authorities in September, requesting them to consider Vijaya for premature release in accordance with law. In October, the authorities replied that her case would be considered for premature release as per the provisions of a government letter issued in November 1994. As per the rule, Vijaya became eligible for premature release the moment she completed 20 years of imprisonment, Pugalenthi said. "Vijaya completed 20 years of imprisonment on April 10, 2010. It is more than 19 months since she became eligible to be considered for premature release." According to Pugalenthi, Vijaya was a Muslim who married Subramani after a brief love affair. Both were street performers in Coimbatore. On April 4, 1990 the couple murdered a youth from a southern district after he tried to misbehave with Vijaya. The police arrested them and registered a murder case. Though mute, Vijaya mingled with all inmates quite well, Pugalenthi said.