VARHAD – Mission
VARHAD is value-driven organization, which through the professional approach deliver Programme, activities and render services to empower individual and families to develop crime free and better society.
VARHAD – Vision
VARHAD prevent further criminalization of prisoners in the Criminal Justice System and work to make them constructive members in the society after their release. We also work with families of prisoners, specially the children to reduce their vulnerability to crime as victim or offender.
VARHAD – In Brief
Voluntary Action for Rehabilitation and Development (VARHAD) Amravati is a Non-Governmental Organization registered under Societies Registration Act 1860. We are working for reformation and rehabilitation of prisoner and their families. VARHAD is presently based in Amravati Central Prison. In western vidharbha we are working across five district namely Amravati, Yeotmal, Akola, Buldhana and Washim with families of prisoner who are serving sentence in the Amravati Central Prison. We are also working in urban and rural communities in Amravati district for crime prevention.
VARHAD – Board
President : Mr.Ravindra Vaidya
Vice-President : Mr. Lalit Khandare
Secretary : Mr.Dhananand Nagdive
Joint-Secretary : Dr.(Ms) V.T.Tantarpade
Treasurer : Mr.Pravin Khandpasole
Exe. Member : Ms.Pushpa Rangari
Exe. Member : Mr.Ajay Sawai
VARHAD : Legal Status
Registered in :
Registered as : Non-Governmental Organization registered under Societies Registration Act 1860
President : Mr.Ravindra Vaidya
Activities
Education
Social worker and trainers establish contact with under trial and convict prisoner, with view to provide social services and motivate them toward reformation and rehabilitation. The social workers interact with prisoner and collect information about the case and family status. We pay home visit to mobilize resources for welfare of the prisoner. Social worker does liaison work between the prisoner and his family & the other component of the Criminal Justice System. Emergency assistance is provided to the families of prisoner particularly to the children and women.
Balwadi (For children of prisoners in the prison)
Before our intervention there were 12 children (age around 6 months to 5 yrs) in female section. The psycho-social development of the children was totally jeopardized in the prison. The standard of living, behavoiur, and language were totally affected by the negative environment of the prison life. Their access & exposure was limited to the female section. The result of that, these children were even unable to differentiate between two different genders. Our constitution assures right to education, healthy & favourable environment for the growth & development as the basic right of every child. Contrary to this, from years after years these children were deprived of their basic right to education. Through Survey we observed that the basic right of education of children has been violated in the prison setting from ages.
Therefore In the year 2001, VARHAD started Balwadi in female section in Amravati Central Prison. Initially there were only 12 children; at present this is the 5th year of the Balwadi. We provide dresses and additional nutritional diet like biscuit and fruits to the children. We are providing them the quality education & preparing them to join mainstream education once they are out of the prison. The Balwadi has brought considerable changes among the children. Near about 107 children who complete the prescribed age limit in prison & whose mothers were released from the prison were benefited.
Education To Children of Prisoners
Varhad renders maximum services to the children of prisoners for education. We also focus on education of children of prisoners left outside. These children are from five districts in western Vidharbha whose parents are imprisoned. There are children whose either or both the parents are imprisoned. Also there are children whose one parent convicted for life and other parent is dead. These children stay with their relatives because of imprisonment of their parents. We found that in most of the cases education of children of prisoners suffers. They are forced by the guardian either to work or to neglect education for payable jobs. This can make them vulnerable to exploitation and to indulge in criminal behaviour.
First of all our Social Worker interacts with prisoners inside the prison then according to the request given, we pay home visit.
The second thing is the information about the socio- economic status of the family & resources allotted for the child from the family.
Our social workers analyze the situation & then decide whether child needs monetary support or the supervision of the elderly or both. In maximum cases we try to keep children in the family. Residential institute is the last option we access in the best interest of the child.
In this whole process social worker gives psycho-social support to the child as well as try to prepare the guardians to continue the education of the children at any cost.
If they are unable to bear the expenses for the child then with the due permission of the parents & guardians we adopt them for education and admit them in residential school.
We have sponsorship programme for education of children who live either with single parent or with relative.
We provide school uniform, stationary, material for their daily requirements. The most important thing is our social worker keep regular contact with the residential school where these children are admitted. For the balance growth & development of the individual, childhood needs care, protection, guidance & supervision of a caring adult.
Because of imprisonment their parents are unable to perform this responsibility. Our social worker plays that role in the growth & development of the child.
Our social worker keeps regular contact with the children as well as with the prisoner & their guardians. Their contact is maintained with imprisoned parents through regular visit to prison in open environment without any barricade. Our workers keep regular follow up with the children, prisoners, relatives, school and various government institutions.
Education of the children in difficult situation is the State’s responsibility & they are entitle for the assistance from the government for education. Therefore to avail the resources for the education & to strengthen the NGO – government relationship for this cause, we built up network with Women & Child Welfare Department & various other departments related to the children issues. With the joint partnership we have admitted 80 children in various residential school.
Literacy Class For The Women Prisoners
As per Prison Manual, there should be arrangement for the literacy class for the illiterate population. We had observed that majority of the women prisoners were illiterates. Imprisonment leads communication gap between women prisoners & family members.
They were depending on literate prisoners to communicate with their own families & the outside world. They were unable to understand their communication with court, advocates and sometimes pay heavy prize for that. Therefore the literacy class was started for the women prisoners. The Balwadi teacher also conducts literacy classes for the women prisoners. For the literacy classes, provision of slates, pencils, books, etc. have been provided by the VARHAD inside the prison. We have conducted 4th standard examination in collaboration with Amravati Municipal Corporation. All candidates whom attempted were passed. Now they are preparing for 7th standard examination from prison. Two totally illiterate women aged about 60-65 years have got well trained and have become capable of appearing for the 4th standard examination. The women prisoners have shown considerable improvement. The literacy class plays supportive role to the vocational training provided to them because some training requires minimum literacy level. This activity enables them to maintain communication with their family & to build their capacity to participate in various training.
Training Center For Women Prisoners
VARHAD is running training center for women prisoners in the female section of Amravati Central Prison. As per the Prison Manual there should be arrangement for the education & vocational training for inmates inside the prison. There are various trade and factories for convicted male prisoners. The women prisoners did not had any training facilities or factory in the prison. In comparison with male section, strength of female section is very less. It is difficult to invest resources to build separate factories for female prisoners. Usually they spend most of their time in discussion about negative experience they had in their life. This would lead them to various psychological disorders & negative attitude towards whole society. The ultimate objective of the imprisonment is reformation & development through constructive activities. Therefore we started a Vocational Training Center for the women prisoners in the prison. The training center provides long-term training like tailoring and various short-term training like Embroidery, Ceramic Painting, Mehandi Application, Bharatkam etc. The training keeps the prisoners engage in constructive activity while in the prison and the same training would help them after their release to earn at least a part of their livelihood. Imprisonment has stigma attached to it. For a release prisoner it is very difficult to earn his livelihood. After release from prison, prisoners face economically dependent & stigmatized life. Through training we are building their capacity to earn their livelihood as well as to lead a normal life in the society.
Legal Guidance And Legal Aid
One of the basic problems faced by Prison Administration is ‘Overcrowding’. Though it is said in one of the Supreme Court Judgment that bail is right of accused, still there is the constant increase in prison population. This constant increase in the number of prison population is leading towards various administration level problem as well as other social problems. In some of the cases prisoners are serving more time behind the bars than they should serve as their punishment. Most of the prison population is from lower social-economical strata. Their imprisonment disturbs the entire economy of the family. The prisoner is the sole earning members of the family. Therefore they cannot afford to engage competent advocates. There is a large section of the prison population whose cases are pending in courts and they are imprisoned waiting for trial. Many of them are booked for less serious or petty offences. VARHAD provides legal aid & guidance to under trial as well as convicted prisoners. When social worker receive request from the prisoner, first we pay home visit to access following information.
1. If the family is capable of engaging a lawyer or not.
2. Whether the family has engaged any lawyer & taking regular follow up
3. Whether family has already engaged a lawyer but incapable to keep a regular follow up with the lawyer
In above-mentioned cases VARHAD provides legal guidance and legal aid to prisoners. If the family is not capable to engage lawyer we guide them either to apply for government legal aid committee or we engage lawyer from our network. If the family has already engaged lawyer but incapable to keep follow up in such cases our social worker keep regular contact with lawyer & inform the family as well as the prisoner about the present status of the cases. The convicted prisoners are provided help for appeal in high court, application for bail, trial, parole and furlough petition. The social workers act as a liaison between the prisoners, his family and the lawyer. We provide legal guidance and legal aid to the prisoners through a network of advocates from lower courts, sessions court to High Courts. We identified lawyers who are ready to give legal aid to the needy and poor prisoners. We have formed a network of lawyers in lower court, session court and high court that took up the cases, which referred by us. They are paid minimum honorarium for the cases. Due to this activity we are able to access the present status of the cases right from lower court to High court. At least Reporting of present status of cases would give some relief to prisoners who are rotting behind the bars.
Parole & Furlough
Imprisonment means cutting down the person from his liberty, from his social bonding & separation from his family. Imprisonment is the period given for the reformation of his legally unacceptable behaviour. But in the reformative prison system we cannot deny the importance of the family bonding in the reformation process. After imprisonment the prisoners are going to be release in the society. Therefore their contact with the family & with the society needs to be maintained. So that he can finally rehabilitate in the society. Therefore convict prisoners are given the parole & furlough facilities just to test their behaviour in open environment & their adjustment with the society. Parole & Furlough enable the prisoners to obtain his release & to return to the outside world for a short prescribed period. These facilities enable inmate to maintain continuity with his family life & deal with family matter. It also saves them from the evil effect of the continuous prison life. It helps to maintain constructive hope & active interest in the life. As per prison manual, there is provision to release prisoners for specific period who are serving sentence inside the prison. The Deputy Inspector General of Prison & Revenue Commissioner is the sanctioning authorities to release prisoner on furlough & parole respectively. To release a prisoner on leave, surety is required. The sanctioning authority also considers a report from the police about the surety, chances of the prisoner absconding and probability to commit any offence.
There is lack of knowledge & misconception about the legal procedures required for the parole & furlough leave among the family members of the prisoners. We assist inmates & their family members to complete various procedures required to avail parole & furlough facilities. Social worker interacts with families of prisoners & sensitizes them to sand surety for parole & furlough. We also interact with revenue, police, and prison officials for speedy disposal of parole & furlough cases. Even social worker give counseling of concern prisoner before release form the prison, which reduces the chances of absconding after release on parole & furlough.
Many family members are not aware about the parole & furlough facilities available for the prisoner. Even in the case of death of his any family member, prisoner comes to know after some days. Therefore, we have adopted a strategy that whenever home visits are paid to relatives of prisoners for any reason then we make them aware of various facilities available to prisoners like furlough, parole, and death parole. This assists them in taking appropriate action in time in case of an emergency. There have been cases where prisoners were able to perform the last rites of their near and dear ones in time because of our timely intervention and support.
Savitribai Phule Rehabilitation Center
Imprisonment has stigma attached to it. For the release women prisoner it is very difficult to earn her livelihood & adjust herself in the society. After release from prison, prisoners face economically dependent & stigmatized life. In the year 2003 the Collector Mrs. Manisha Varma inaugurated rehabilitation Center. The objective behind starting this Center was to provide immediate temporary shelter for women released from prison. This also caters as emergency shelter for family of prisoners coming from far places for visit to prisoners in the prison. Provision for emergency lodging and boarding is made available to extremely deserving cases.
The center provides vocational training to released prisoners as well as the adjoining community women. The Center is situated in an area where the majority of domestic violence cases are registered. So along with the vocational training, awareness Programme are also conducted in the Center especially in regard to family laws, rights of women, procedures to be followed in regard to cases of domestic violence. The focus in this regard is more on approaching an NGO for counseling before lodging a complaint in the police station, or filing a case in the court. Thus, we have handled many cases, which are either referred or approached directly, through counseling and such women come to the Center for vocational training. This also helps the women released from prison to integrate themselves positively with the women coming from the community. Further developing confidence and molding the personality of the women, various Programme are organized like debates, dances, competitions of Rangoli, Drawing, Recipes, etc.
After Care Services
Our aftercare services are aimed towards reintegration of the prisoner into society and to prevent his future involvement in crime or anti-social activities. In this regard, our social workers do regular counseling of the prisoner and his family. Regular contact and follow-up with them is maintained through home-visits. Individual plans are finalized for both our male and female prisoners in regard to their future economical development.
The first strategy used is improvement of the skills already possessed by him. VARHAD helps to strengthen his earning capacity by legal means. If the client has had a regular job or work before his arrest then we try to reinstate him in his earlier job, for which our workers interact with the previous employer if any and counsel him for the same.
The youth group is interested in learning new skills. They have not had any fixed & legally accepted source of earning before their arrest. Some are referred for vocational training to other organizations or training institutes. There are also cases where the prisoner has learnt some vocational skill already earlier or while in prison. A few male prisoner have been sent for the driving course, and after some monetary help and guidance they have been able to acquire driving license for 4-wheelers. For clients aspiring to set up some business of their own on a small scale, help is extended through provision of hand-carts for selling vegetables, fruits or setting up of a stall for the same. Some prisoners have been given a stipend so as to help them initially gain some experience in managing or handling of such small-scale business and later assisted in setting up the same. Our aftercare services have benefited many released prisoners in gaining a source of income and restoring stability in their lives.
There are prisoners coming from other States in search of employment, and are arrested for petty offences or as preventive action. They do not have any relatives or local contacts in Amravati. After there release, there are high chances of re-arrest since they don’t have any financial resources. Thus, we intervene in such cases and make arrangements to send back these clients to their respective States. Temporary shelter is provided until arrangements are made for their travel back home.
After care services provided by us function as crime prevention activity at one level. It reduces the chances of prisoner being victim & again adopts the anti social activities for his survival in the society.
Family support & Family Contact of Prisoners maintained by VARHAD
The objective of the imprisonment is to cut down the liberty of the person & give him the time to reform himself. Any change or reform needs support & appreciation from his beloved persons. But because of poverty, lack of knowledge about procedures or because of stigma this imprisoned population has totally cut down form their families, relatives, & in general rest of the society.
As part of our activity we pay home visits to families of prisoners. During our home visits we have observed that there are prisoners whose relatives do not come to visit them in prison. In Amravati prison, prisoners are kept from five districts from the region. Because of poverty and illiteracy family members do not pay visits to the prisoners. We have even found that there is cases where the family did not paid a single visit to the prisoners once he or she is transferred to the central prison. We also observed that in some cases family do not maintain any contact with prisoners even through letters. There are other reason also like fear of police, disputes within family, and misunderstanding about the prisoners.
Therefore we also work to improve relationship of the prisoner in the family and improve family contacts with the prisoners. After home visits of our workers family contact of many prisoners has been established, which was not there after their conviction. They also come up to give surety for parole and furlough after our home visits and counseling
As earlier mentioned, poverty and the distance involved is one of the main reasons for poor family contact with prisoners. The workers sensitize the family during home visits and through letters. Therefore we started giving financial support to the families of poor and needy prisoners to visits the prison to visit prisoners. Whenever worker pays visits to family and feel that there is need to give financial assistance for visit then he give the support. And also guide the family about traveling and procedure for interview. We pay rupees 50 to 250 per person for a visit depending upon the distance involve. Longest distance from Amravati to their family is 350 kilometer. This practice has improved family contacts of many prisoners. The practice helped to improve emotional attachment of the prisoners with the family member & positive attitude towards the society.
Educational, recreational, & cultural services to prisoners
VARHAD is also working for promoting healthy and positive environment in the prison. We undertake some activities to achieve this objective. In the year 2003, about 10 of the male convicts had appeared for the examination conducted by the Akhil Bhartiya Gandharva Mahavidyapeeth, Sangli for singing and playing of tabla and harmonium. This examination was conducted inside the prison premises only. One examiner was present for the examination, which consisted a written exam of three hours and a practical exam of three hours. To help the convicts in their preparation for this examination, we appointed a music teacher who would visit the prison twice a week to train them. Nine of the convicts were able to pass through the examination except for one. Now in 2005, another 15 convicts have filled in their applications for the same examination.
Besides, another three of the convicts are preparing themselves to appear for graduate and post-graduate level examinations. One is appearing for M.A. (Marathi Literature), another for 2nd year B.A., and the third convict for 2nd year B.Sc. These convicts have been provided with the respective study material. Their forms have been filled up and directly sent to the University.
We conduct other cultural activities as per the various days of celebration such Labor’s Day, World Women’s Day, etc. The prisoners are motivated to participate in the program giving them an opportunity to display their individual talent. They are provided with all the necessary clothes, music equipment, etc. for the presentation of the same. Sports activities and competitions are also conducted for the recreation of the prisoner.
Assistance to avail Government schemes
Most of the prison population is from socially & economically disadvanted group. Some of them are behind the bars just because of their vulnerable situation. Upliftment of the socially & economically disadvanted group is the responsibility of the state. The state government has various welfare schemes, specifically prisoners comes under schemes like “Indira Gandhi Niradhar Mahila Anudan Yojana”, “Indira Awas Yojana”, “Shravanbal Seva Yojana” for the development & rehabilitation. State has some sanction resources for this disadvanted group. VARHAD is providing assistance to the prisoner to avail this government schemes for their rehabilitation. We are sensitizing the prisoners as well as the family members to avail the schemes for which they are entitling to. Our social Worker sensitizes family members about the purpose of the Scheme, age group, beneficiaries, process, benefits of the schemes, related information, documents required & the contact person for respective scheme. The family members of the prisoners are illiterate & not aware about the various government schemes they are entitle for or even if they are aware, they do not have knowledge about the contact person for that particular scheme or whom to approach, the pattern to write application. We are playing the mediators or facilitator role in this activity. Government departments are the service giving authority & the families of the prisoner are the beneficiaries. We are linking the beneficiaries to the service giving authorities. We are trying not only to mobilize private resources but also the government resources, which are available for this deprived group. With the active participation of the beneficiaries & supportive role of government we are trying to render maximum services to this socially, economically & psychologically deprived group.
Medical facilities
We provide medical facilities to the children of prisoners or the family member of the prisoner. Specifically we gave assistance to avail medical facilities to the children of prisoners admitted to the residential school. Due the imprisonment of their parents these children, socially, psychologically, physically get exposed to various ill practices regarding hygiene & sanitation, which may lead to the health related problems. The children admitted to residential school are far away from the family. With the help of the respective residential school we tried to give better medical facilities to these children. Even in the health issues we try to give medical facilities in the best interest of the child.
Work with Police
Aftercare services to the release prisoner demonstrate need of fulltime work with or in police station. Previous criminal record is one of the main obstacles in reformation of release prisoner. Social workers counsel prisoner since his first interaction in prison. We engage financial and other resources for release and aftercare services. Sudden action from police only based on his previous criminal record washed out all our efforts. Therefore we interact with concern police for reformation & rehabilitation of release prisoners. It is strongly required in the cases of habitual offenders & history sheeters. Police Department has prejudice about the reformation & rehabilitation of the persons punished for offences like theft or robbery.
Some individual officers are found to be more cooperative, & open for the reformation on case-by-case basis. De-addiction from alcohol, restriction on bad company, & legal means of income generation are the remedies we have observed while working with habitual offenders. There are cases, which are recognized by police as reformed individuals.
There is need of detailed work with police on issue related to release prisoners, particularly habitual offenders. In future we will strengthen our work with release prisoners in regards to police. One reason for our considerable less interaction with police could be less numbers of habitual offenders in our aftercare program.
Work for Prisoners under Chapter Cases
A large number of under-trials are arrested under chapter cases. They are booked under various sections of Criminal Procedure Code as preventive action. Some are arrested under sections of the Bombay Police Act on the grounds of law and order. Some of them are arrested because of their previous criminal background. And some are first timers who are arrested loitering around at night or found at the bus stands, railway station etc. The second group is not involved in any criminal activity, but has been arrested due to addiction to alcohol or bad company. Many are arrested due to disputes in the family. These are mostly young boys aged between 21-25 years who have a disturbed family background due to which they get into bad company through their long hours of absence from home. These are boys addicted to alcohol or drugs and are habitual of constantly being arrested under the same sections. This is similar with the group of youth aged 25-35 years who have been arrested under ‘chapter cases’ for domestic violence or other family disturbance cases.
Social workers do regular counseling of the prisoners during their stay in the prison. Home-visits are made to find out details about the case and opinion of people about the prisoner. If there is any chance of reformation then the workers mobilize resources through the family for his release. There are cases who are seem to be innocent and to prevent further criminalization of such first-time offenders while in prison, we try to get him out as early as possible. After paying visits the workers interact with the Special Executive Magistrate (ACP) or Executive Magistrate and presents the case and requests before the concerned court for release of the prisoner on personal bond. Power of the court is vested with Assistant Commissioner of Police in jurisdiction of the Police Commissionerate. The same power is vested with Executive Magistrate (Tehsildar) at the taluka of the rural division. We also provide aftercare services to the released undertrials in terms of counseling, training and guidance. This activity provides them the opportunity to reform themselves & reintegrate in the society.
Contact Us
VARHAD
Voluntary Action For Rehabilitation And Development
Teachers Colony, Ram Nagar,
Post Rukhmini Nagar
Amravati – 444 606
Maharashtra
Phone : 0721-2567851
Fax No. 0721-3293069
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