A released convict with his son after his premature release from jail at Cherlapalli prison’s grounds in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
A shadow loomed over Ashok’s formative years of childhood with his father’s arrest on charges of murder in 2007, when he was 10-years-old. Seventeen years later, now a graduate with dreams of a banking career, Ashok eagerly awaited his father Venkanna’s release. On Wednesday, the Telangana government freed his father, along with 212 others, on good conduct. The once familiar Hyderabad would seem like a different world to his father, and Ashok, all grown up, couldn’t wait to show him around — a city transformed, and a son, ready to rebuild a bond.
On Wednesday, 213 convicts, including 178 men and 35 women inmates, were granted early release from the Cherlapalli Central Prison. The prisoners noted that this day would be categorised alongside August 15 and January 26 as their own day of independence.
“My father was arrested along with 10 others in a murder case involving a disputed land in Warangal in 2005” said J. Ashok. “A court sentenced him and others in 2007 to undergo life imprisonment. It has not been easy without him for me and my younger sister. We have visited him during interview sessions in Warangal prison over the years with a barricade separating us. It felt good to hug him finally,” said Ashok. “He will spend a few days with me here in Hyderabad before heading home in Warangal to my sister and mother. I cannot wait to show him all the developments he missed in the last 17 years. He eventually wants to get back to farming now,” added Ashok.
The Telangana Prisons Department has provided jobs to several of them. These include 70 posts in the ‘My Nation’ petrol bunks. Officials also distributed sewing machines to eight released women convicts.
Mohd Ghouse, who was released after serving 22 years in Cherlapalli prison, was received by his joint family of over 10 people. He too was arrested on charges of murder. “Our family is complete with my son coming back home. We are not going to pressurise him to get married or anything. We just want him home and start living a normal life,” said Raziya, his mother.
While the prison grounds had families reuniting and the former convicts sighing a breath of relief, there were people like Dasari Veeraiah, who stressed how other inmates were expressing their desire to be let off. Veeraiah, who was arrested on February 10, 2010 for a murder case in Khammam, served 14 years and is now aged 66. “I have a sense of guilt before heading home to my wife and three children. I want to get any job I can and support my family. However, I would like to request the government to listen to other inmates who can also be let off on good behaviour like us. We have learnt our lesson,” he said.
