Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung today said that a jail is not a system to punish an inmate but to make him conscious of his crime and mould him so that he can contribute to the society after he is released.
Jung was speaking at the Raising Day of Delhi Jails where he was the Chief Guest.
Speaking on the occasion, Jung who is a retired IAS officer recalled days when he was Superintendent of a jail in Indore for two months.
"Those days were easier as Emergency was imposed but the experience was good. I learnt how tough and wonderful it is to work in jail because working here is not everybody's cup of tea...The job is as tough as the job of regular police, it even comes with another responsibility that you have to understand the psychological condition of the person," he said.
Jung pointed out that in a country like India, those who commit crime are probably forced to do so by the society, law or the civilization. During my initial days I served in Bhind and Murena where people become dacoits as revenue laws there are not easy, they are very tough. Justice gets delayed so much that people commit crime to get justice.
"Any jail, I feel that it is not a system to punish, punishment is a part of it. The real thing is that the person is made conscious about his crime and when he comes out of it he not just realizes it but also knows that why it was committed and how he can contribute to the society after coming out of it," he said.
Jung, who was accompanied by his wife, reached the prison headquarters where he was given a guard of honour by the security forces.
He also inaugurated the 'Neelkamal fountain Chowk' at the Police Headquaters. This fountain is Lotus-shaped with blue tiles, hence named "NeelKamal".
He also distributed awards to the staff for their good performance and those who had won prizes in the sports competitions.
Later, he inaugurated a mural - the poem written by Tihar jail inmate and painted by graffiti artist Hanif Qureshi and his team - across the prison's wall spread across 968 metres of the length of the front side.
The poem titled 'Chardiwari' is taken from the book 'Tink-Tinka Tihar'. The book is made up of collection of poems written by women inmates in both English and Hindi.
LG also visited the jail factory where he witnessed various vocational programs being carried out in the jails for the reformation and rehabilitation of the prisoners.
