The New Indian Express / by Kaleeswaram Raj

Asaram Bapu’s access to a full-time caregiver in jail highlights the stark disparities in India’s prison system, where many inmates struggle for medical care, dignity and even basic necessities
… Swamy’s and Saibaba’s predicaments are often cited, but many others have suffered in prison. In a 2024 paper, Bhavya Dore and Sukhada Tatke exposed the incredibly inhuman treatment, including denial of medical care, extended to political prisoners booked under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, going beyond the Swamy-Saibaba tragedies. It says the prison authorities denied even a mosquito net to people accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, including Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha and Sagar Gorkhe. Law teacher and activist Sudha Baradwaj and English teacher Shoma Sen were lodged along the Phansi yard in Yerwada jail, says the paper.
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Also read/watch:
▪ Disabled inmates must be allowed to self-identify: plea (The Hindu / Jul 2026)
▪ Lives Lost: How Prolonged Incarceration Failed Pandu Narote, Kanchan Nanaware, Stan Swamy (Frontline / Jan 2026)
▪ Voices From Prison | A Legacy Of Detention: Weaponisation Of PDA, TADA, NSA And UAPA Laws Since Independence (Outlook / Jan 2026)
▪ Video | Sudhir Dhawale Spoke With Outlook About Mental Health Crisis in Indian Prisons (Outlook / Oct 2025)
▪ An Imprisoned Mind | Mental Health Challenges Among India’s Political Prisoners (Outlook / Sep 2025)
▪ I saw firsthand how callous prison officials and their negligence led to Stan Swamy’s death (Scroll.in | by Arun Ferreira | Jul 2025)
▪ BK-16 Prison Diaries: Sagar Gorkhe on his battle to survive Taloja jail’s brutality (The Polis Project | by Sagar Gorkhe | Feb 2025)
▪ Some personal reflections on prison medical care (The Leaflet | by Vernon Gonsalves | Apr 2024)
▪ ‘It Is Only by Chance That I Came Out of Prison Alive’: G.N. Saibaba (The Wire / March 2024)