Tihar’s ghosts: Have those who have been hanged come back to haunt the inmates
New Delhi, Apr 30: Are there ghosts in Tihar Jail, one of the largest prisons in the country.
Inmates locked up in the jail have complained about encountering ghosts according to an article in vice.com. Apart from being inhumanly overcrowded, Tihar prison is infamous for ghost stories. Tales abound of the spirits of inmates - who died by suicide inside the prison or were hanged - haunting the insides of this jail. In the last five years, 32 inmates have killed themselves says the article.
The article while quoting an inmate says that when he was in Tihar jail, he would pray before going to sleep. A few hours later he would feel that someone was sitting next to him. "In my conscious mind, I knew that it was a ghost. So I tried to keep my eyes shut. Suddenly, the wind would start blowing around my ears, or I'd hear someone whisper. When I'd open my eyes, I'd see a body hanging from the grilles of the window. Hearing my screams, it would disappear," the article quoted him saying.
While the ghost has not harmed anyone, it is sure impacted their minds. Several other prisoners have given similar accounts and they feel these are ghosts of Kashmiri separatists Maqbool Butt and Afzal Guru, who were hanged in 1984 and 2013, respectively.
Another prisoner according to the article says that he spirits of four men who were executed in the prison in March 2020 are haunting the prisoners. The four men were convicted for the gang rape and murder of a medical student.
The prisoner according to the article had not believed in ghosts until he encountered them. The article while quoting Ashok Baaje, a New Delhi resident who has been to Tihar 13 times said that he had not believed in ghosts until he too encountered them. Baaje said that one night, he felt something heavy on his chest. He opened his eyes to see someone sitting on him. The face glowed and it was Mukesh Singh one of the four men executed. I peed my pants! I was shit scared and couldn't believe my eyes. Then the spirit disappeared, he said according to the article.