We welcome the rule that the High Court has issued to create rules, policies or regulations to ensure the physical and mental development of the child staying with the mother in the condemned cell of a jail.
The High Court bench formed with Justice Naima Haider and Justice Kazi Zeenat Hoque last Sunday asked the inspector general of prisons and the Habiganj district prison authorities to investigate about a certain child residing with the mother in the condemned cell as well as the child’s condition and then submit a report on 18 January.
A daily had published a report titled ‘How is 10-month-old Mahida doing in the condemned cell’ on 30 November. It reported that 10-month-old Mahida is living inside the condemned cell with her mother who has been sentenced to death in a case of the prevention of repression against women and children act filed in Habiganj.
Then Supreme Court lawyer Tanvir Ahmed filed a writ attaching the report on 14 December asking for directions to ensure adequate food, healthy environment and other basic needs for the child.
Notably, the condemned cells are about 10 feet long and 10 feet wide without adequate light or direct source of water. The cell is kept unlocked for one and a half hours every day. And a high power electric light burns throughout the night.
The same amount of food that is allotted for a person serving rigorous imprisonment is provided to a mother on the death row. This means no extra food is provided for the child.
According to recent data of Child Rights Advocacy Coalition in Bangladesh (CRAC), about 304 children are living behind the bars with their mothers in 68 prisons of the county. The organisation believes that the existing legal structure isn’t enough to safeguard the rights of the children of convicted prisoners.
The prison authorities must keep this in mind that it is the women in the condemned cell who has committed a crime, but not her child. While, the rules of the condemned cell apply to a mother on the death row those cannot apply for her child.
There are two humanitarian questions involved here. One is the child’s right to be with their mother and the other is the healthy and normal environment for the child’s mental and physical development that is impossible to ensure inside the condemned cell.
Since the incident of Habiganj prison was reported in media, public could know about it and a writ petition was filed in the court. The fact, whether there are other children living with their mothers in the condemned cells of any other prisons, also needs to be investigated.
Day care centres, where the children can enjoy their playtime, are supposed to be there in the women wards of all prisons.
But the condition of our overflowing prisons is that a lot of things are there only on paper but not in reality. Children staying with their mothers are given little consideration there.
The prisons should be considered as correctional facilities and not detention centers. Even if we exclude the developed countries, the overall environment in the prisons is a lot better in neighbouring India also. But, we could not break away from that colonial law.
Two alternative measures can be taken in the case of children staying with their mothers in prison. Mothers who are imprisoned along with their children have to be provided with a separate, improved environment while, adequate facilities have to be ensured for the physical and mental development of the children.
The prison authorities didn’t make any separate arrangements on their own for the mental and physical development of the children staying with their convicted mothers. Hopefully, they will take necessary action fast in this regard, following the High Court’s rule.