Home for prisoners’ kids

Millions of fortunate children in India celebrate Children's Day today, the birthday of India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, fondly called as Chacha Nehru. But there are millions of children who have no idea of the existence of the Day dedicated to them.
Nearly seven million children in India under the age of 14 do not have access to quality education. Children from social and religious minorities, children with disabilities, working children, those living on the streets, children affected by conflict and disasters are prone to neglect. Over two million children in India die every year before they reach their fifth birthday. The United Nations General Assembly, in 1954, recommended all countries to dedicate a day to the celebration of the spirit of children and their talent. But their spirit and talent are getting wasted under physical labour and inaccessibility to education.
As a step to help such children, the Foundation for Restoring Human Dignity (FORHD), Mysore Chapter, is running 'Makkala Mane' in Kuvempunagar giving shelter and education to the destitute children of the prisoners. The Weekend Star Supplement also touches on the sensitive matter of child labour.
Imagine living without parents; especially bearing the tag of being the children of criminals. The society will call the child a future criminal, despite the nature of the child. The parents of other children will shun the child, avoid their children from mingling with the child and the relatives of the children refuse to support them fearing that he or she would become like their parents. Most such children become vagrants and beggars. Some resort to violence to fill their empty stomach and in turn become what the society feared they would become — criminals. To avoid this and to give a home to such children, FORHD Home for children [Makkala Mane] was started by former Police Chief L.Revannasiddaiah under the auspices of his Foundation for Restoring Human Dignity (FORHD) in September 2004 at #1795, K Block, Udayaravi Road, Kuvempunagar, Mysore.
When both the parents go to jail or when the mother goes to jail, they are allowed to take children below 7 years to the prison along with them. Prisoners are counseled by FORHD regarding value of education or undesirable nature of keeping children in prison along with them. Such children who do not live in prison along with parents and have no other home outside are housed in Makkala Mane; at present there are 23 children. They are given food, shelter, clothing and education free of cost.
Makkala Mane is being looked after by former Deputy Commissioner of Police Rangappa, Chairman of FORHD, Mysore Chapter, Warden Shambaiah and cook Mayamma.
When SOM visited Makkala Mane, the children were home after school and were busy studying. Rangappa was busy admonishing a boy about his wrongdoings.
Rangappa, later speaking about the home, said the children are brought here from villages and towns all over the State, as far as North Karnataka. The FORHD sends appeals to all prisons in the State to send any children who are orphaned because of their parents' conviction, poverty or death. If they come to know the whereabouts of such children, they go to them and bring them here with the consent of either their parents in jail or the relatives. Almost all the kids are very poor, with no means of sustenance if left outside. Some children remain here even if their parents are released from the jail. The children are fed, clothed and sent to various schools in city.
"When they first came here, some children were in a very bad physical and mental condition as there was no guardian to look after their needs. They were dirty, with tangled hair and mentally depressed. It took some time to bring them to normalcy,” says Shambaiah.
When asked about the tuition and counselling for the kids, Rangappa said that no teacher was willing to come and teach them and most of them who did come, asked for exorbitant prices; it is being contemplated to seek the help of psychiatrists for periodic counselling of the children and to start computer classes. But the only problem is dearth of funds. Children aged from 3 years to 15 years live here.
There is a ghastly story of violence behind every child in Makkala Mane. Warden Shambaiah reveals the stories of some of them. Mangala from Hinkal is 10 years old and is studying in 5th std. She came here after her mother died and father Subramani, who was a car driver in profession, was sent to jail in a murder case. He still has to complete 7 years out of the life term awarded to him by the court.
Sisters Ramya and Jyothi are studying in I PUC and 8th std. respectively. Their father, who was in jail, was released two years ago and mother works as a daily wage labourer. As they are very poor and cannot afford to educate their children, the girls still live in Makkala Mane. Shambaiah says the children will be looked after only till they attain 14 years and hence, both sisters were sent to a girls' hostel to continue education. But the girls came running back to Makkala Mane in 6 months. Ramya is studying Commerce in PUC and says happily that she wishes to join BBM.
Here is a case of a child suffering the results of the misdoings of the parents. Vinod Raj's whole family was arrested in a dowry case when his father's sister-in-law lodged a complaint against the whole family that they tortured her for dowry. When the elders in the family were arrested, there was no one to look after the child. He joined Mane in 2004 and is now studying in 9th std. There are numerous such stories behind the children here.
These children have forgotten their homes and think Makkala Mane as their real home. They visit their parents, if alive, either in jail or outside, regularly. But they all come back to the Mane willingly.
However, some children who are adamant and do not adjust themselves to the atmosphere at the Mane are sent out. Siddaraju, 17, and his sister Nagamani were sent out of the Mane for their rude behaviour and reluctance to adjust with other children. Rangappa and Shambaiah say they could not correct the kids’ behaviour even after many attempts. Their father is still in jail serving life term.
The youngest among the inmates are sisters Akshata and Ashwini who are 7-year-old and 5-year-old respectively. Their father Kuppendrayi is in Gulbarga jail serving term for murder. The girls joined Makkala Mane this year and are the cutest of the lot.
They may be the children of criminals but they are just that: children. They are innocent and know nothing of the deeds of their parents. Most of them are not even fully aware of their positions in society. Their minds too are not aggressive like their parents, as often misjudged by the society. They are just destitutes left alone and uncared-for by the society.
Makkala Mane is doing a commendable job in maintaining that innocence. Or else, the very children would now be beggars, thieves and young anti-social elements instead of normal school-going children that they are now. --By Shwetha Pangannaya