Back home at last

As the sun starts to set on Saturday, 55-year-old Shahjehan puts on a bright pink suit, one of her favourites. Over it, she dons a black burkha with sequins around the edges. She can barely contain her happiness over the release of her two granddaughters from jail. Her happiness is best expressed through her wide smile and teary eyes.

Around 7.45 p.m., Ms. Shahjehan, her 60-year-old husband Haji Naseer, and their son Mohammad Haseen (33) and a few relatives walk across the railway line to reach the gates of the Muzaffarnagar District Jail. They check the list put up outside with the names of all those incarcerated being released on Saturday.

Mr. Haseen frantically scans the list for his nieces’ names. He panics momentarily when he fails to spot them and then reads it again for good measure.

“Their names are not here ammaji. I’ve checked twice,” he tells his mother and immediately starts making a few calls but in vain.

Nobody seems to have an idea about what is happening but they tell him, “If their names are not there, it is unlikely they will be released today [Saturday]”.

However, a middle-aged person tries to reassure them saying, “Don’t worry. They forget to add a few names sometimes.”

For the next 15 minutes, the trio wait along with a motley crew of nearly 30 persons waiting for the release of their incarcerated relatives.

At 8.01 p.m., a loud creak from opening of a small gate at a distance of 500 metres shakes every waiting man and woman out of their reverie.

‘The girls have come out’

Mr. Haseen and Mr. Naseer walk to the left of the main gate to see if the girls are among those released. As soon as he spots his nieces — their faces covered and both of them holding hands — the uncle recognises them. He lowers his head in prayers for a moment and looks at his mother before announcing, “Aa gayi bacchiyan, ammaji [The girls have come out, mother]”.

The girls are immediately enveloped in a bear hug from their grandmother. Tears roll down their cheeks, both the young and the weathered ones, followed by several phone calls from relatives waiting back at home. The family and the girls leave soon.

The sisters are welcomed by relatives at their residence in Khatauli’s Islam Nagar after their release from the Muzaffarnagar District Jail on Saturday night.   | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

Saiba* and Mahiba* (*names changed), aged 17 years and 13 years respectively as per their Aadhaar cards, were arrested from their residence in Islam Nagar on charges of cow slaughter and attempt to murder in the early hours of December 29. The girls are now 18-year-old and 14-year-old. Seven others — their mother Shehzadi, a 15-year-old cousin, their aunts Afsana and Reshma, Ms. Shehzadi’s brother Shahbaz, and their neighbours Ashfaq (60) and his son Mehtab (30) — were arrested along with them.

Though the girls and their cousin allegedly told the police they were minors, they were arrested and not treated as juveniles. The girls were granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on March 27. However, procedural delays took 10 more days before they were released.

Back home after nearly three-and-a-half months, Saiba and Mahiba are welcomed by over 20 relatives and neighbours. The first thing they do after greeting everyone is sit on the bed. “In jail, we always sat on the floor. It feels good to sit on the bed,” says Saiba.

Life in prison

In one word, they explain their time in jail as “boring”.

In jail, they would wake up at 6 a.m. with the clang of the khadka (a metal gong), followed by counting. For the next three hours, there would be no activity. At 9 a.m., they would get a cup of tea “without biscuits or bread”. From 10.30 p.m. to 3 p.m., prisoners would be allowed to meet relatives each day. For lunch at 12 p.m., they would get “only daal-roti”. At 6 p.m. would be the second and final round of counting.

“We all got bored all day, simply lying on our backs. We were allowed to watch TV for one hour [from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.]. Whatever the prison head played, we watched,” says Mahiba.

And then there was prison head Neelu didi who “loved” the girls. The sisters say she treated them well inside the prison, and while they never want to go back they say they will miss her.

“She treated us like her children. She would call us near her desk and talk to all of us for hours. Amma [Ms. Shehzadi], khala [Ms. Reshma], chachi [Ms. Afsana] and we all were together, so it became easier,” says Saiba.

Exchanging chits

Another source of “entertainment” in the prison were the chits the girls exchanged with their 15-year-old cousin lodged in the men’s jail.

“He would send us chits with messages through prison guards and we would reply the same way. I wrote to him asking for golgappe if he hears anything about our bail. He sent four golgappe on Thursday,” Mahiba recalls with a smile.

The girls were expecting to be released on Friday, but a chit from their cousin told them it will happen only on Saturday. The sisters said the last 24 hours in jail were “difficult” because they knew they would be out.

“We did not have hope for the past three months, but the last 24 hours before we were released were different because we knew we were finally going home,” they say.

While every family member expresses concern about their marriages due to their arrest, the girls, after every few statements, reiterate that they regret not studying. “If we were educated, we would have been in a position to argue with the officers and tell them that our arrest was illegal. We could have said something,” says Mahiba, even as Saiba nods in agreement.

Ms. Shahjehan agrees with the girls and curses their father, her son Naseemuddin, who is absconding since he was declared an accused in the same case.

“At a very early age, he pushed the girls into just reading the Quran. I told him to get them admitted to a school but he did not listen to me. They have been doing household chores since years,” says the grandmother.

The past three months have been worse than “a death in their midst”, say the family members.

Mr. Haseen says he has been running from advocates and courts to Khatauli police station since the arrests and after the girls got bail, but cannot be thankful enough to the eight persons who gave surety for the girl’s release.

“At a time when there are clashes between different communities now and then, we were helped by Gujjars from Kakrala village. They attached their land papers for the girls’ bail,” he said, adding that he sells cattle to them.

The family now plans to approach the court to establish that the girls and their cousin were arrested despite being minors.

Their advocate Nitin Tyagi said Ms. Shehzadi’s bail has been approved. While Ms. Afsana and Ms. Reshma pleas are pending in court, they are yet to file a bail application for the 15-year-old, he says.

“After they are all released on bail, we will approach the court and fight for the trio to be tried as juveniles,” said Mr. Tyagi.

Arrested neighbour unwell

The family of their arrested neighbours Mr. Ashfaq and his son Mr. Mehtab, who are still in prison, claimed that Mr. Ashfaq is in a terrible state inside the prison.

“Both of them were arrested because they dared to ask the police why they were arresting children. Abba is in the clinic inside the prison since the past 20 days. He is very old and cannot handle this,” said Mumtiaz Ali, Mr. Ashfaq’s son.

Meanwhile, back at home, Saiba and Mahiba tucked into their first meal with a gusto since their return home. “It’s biryani, their favourite,” says their grandmother with a smile.