From Class X dropouts to graduates — journey of three Uttar Pradesh prisoners

Jalaluddin, arrested from Varanasi’s Cantonment area in 2001 for allegedly passing secret information and vital data about Army installations, was sentenced for 33 years in jail in November, 2003.

[related-post]

When he learnt that the jail administration was providing an opportunity to prisoners to pursue distance education from IGNOU, Jalaluddin met the then jail superintendent requesting for his enrolment. Since he was a Class X dropout, he had to undertake Bachelor Preparatory Programme (BPP), a course offered by the university to those students who wish to get a Bachelors Degree of IGNOU but do not have the essential qualification of having passed 10+2.

Varanasi Jailor Rajeev Mishra said Jalaluddin completed the BPP course, then did his BA and will now appear for his final-year MA exam this year.

Gulab Khan, a native of Bareilly district, was arrested by the UP STF in 2008 for his alleged role in the attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur on the intervening night of December 31, 2007 and January 1, 2008. Gulab (36) used to run a small welding shop before he was arrested for allegedly storing at his house arms and ammunition, which, reportedly, were later used in the attack. Seven CRPF men and a rickshaw-puller were killed in that attack.

Currently lodged in Bareilly jail, Gulab too was a class X dropout. He will now appear for his final-year BCom exams, said Superintendent D R Maurya. His younger brother, Naeem Khan, an electrician, said: “Gulab is the most educated member in our family.”

Farhan Ahmed, meanwhile, is facing life imprisonment on charges of being a HuJI operative, sedition and for possessing an AK-47 rifle, hand grenades, RDX and detonator. Arrested by the STF in 2006 from Lucknow, Farhan used to run an embroidery unit from his house in Thakurganj. In January 2008, a Lucknow court sentenced him and four others to life imprisonment. An appeal against the order was filed in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court. The matter is still pending.

Unmarried, Farhan was also a high school dropout. While in Lucknow jail, he too enrolled in IGNOU’s BPP course to become a final-year BA student today. “We are happy Farhan is utilising his time. Like my other five children, he too will be a graduate,” mother Nazma Sultana said.

According to jail officials, when inmates show interest in pursuing courses, IGNOU provides them with study material while they get notebooks and other items from the prison department. Teachers regularly visit jails to help with their study.

WATCH INDIAN EXPRESS VIDEOS HERE