I was sent to Mandi Bahauddin Jail for protesting against the imposition of emergency and the removal of the defiant judges from the superior judiciary. I found that the jail was overcrowded with about 1,120 inmates in a place designed for 250. The majority was that of under-trial prisoners. Around 180 prisoners had received death penalties and every prison cell built to accommodate one prisoner had 12 of them. There were 20 lawyers from Mandi Bahauddin and six from Muzaffar Garh in one prison cell, all of them were rounded up from their chambers. The jail staff did not misbehave with us but our friends were not permitted to meet us at the prison and our relatives were also stopped from providing us with food.

Many prisoners told me that their cases were pending in the courts without any progress. They said they were taken to courts but regular strikes by lawyers were delaying their cases. Most of them had minor cases against them in which they could be released on bail. Courts have not been working regularly since March 9 because of the lawyers' movement for the independence of the judiciary. The rulers are busy playing power games and have no time to address the people's problems. The country is in turmoil. In the meantime, under-trial prisoners remain deprived of justice and keep rotting in jails. With them, their family members live in agony too. Will our rulers take notice of the pathetic condition of under-trial prisoners rotting in jails and arrange dispensation of speedy justice for them?

Gangly Khan
Mandi Bahauddin