Jailhouse Rock: Tihar inmate turns to music for release
21 March 2013 6:28 AM IST
Does Tihar Jail have more inmates that it can handle? After the two back-to-back suicides in the high-profile prison last week, that of 16 December gang rape accused Ram Singh on 11 March, and a female inmate on 14 March, questions have been raised not only about the safety and surveillance conditions in the prison, but the threat that prisoners often face from fellow inmates. Human rights lawyers and former Tihar inmates have alleged that prisoners at the jail face daily threats from fellow inmates and are forced to pay bribes to the poorly-paid jailers. And on the other hand there are those, who had fallen prey to crimes once upon a time, but managed to rediscover themselves at Tihar.
These two contradictory aspects of the prison were revealed when Millennium Post caught up with a prisoner, whose life received a new direction at Tihar. While at the prison, this inmate formed a musical band, ‘Rockers Band’, of which he is the lead artiste.
Rishab Chauhan, 32, says he has been in Tihar for the past four years, and has been fighting for bail since. 'A simple mistake of trusting someone I shouldn’t have landed me in prison,' he says.
Four years ago, Rishab was the area manager of a leading company in Connaught Place. 'I used to go to the gym regularly after office. I met someone there, and we became good friends.'
According to Rishab, one day his friend asked for his car because he needed to go to Aligarh. 'I readily gave it to him as I thought I knew him well by then.
‘The next day, when I was about to go to work, some police officials came to raid my house. They told me that my car had been seized, after a dead body was found in it, and that they had come to arrest the owner. 'My friend, I found had also been arrested for killing his girlfriend on the pretext of taking her for a drive. I was labelled a co-accused,' he recalls. Since then, Rishab has been awaiting bail.
Gradually, he got himself involved in the various training courses offered at Tihar, and also found a music band, ‘Rockers Band’, with five other inmates.
'My life now is surrounded by music. We practise for two hours every day. We write and compose our own music,' says Rishab, who is a trained tabla player. The band focuses mostly on western and classical music, and have been the winners of the Tihar Idols music competition last year. They have also compiled a collection of their songs which is available in the market.
These two contradictory aspects of the prison were revealed when Millennium Post caught up with a prisoner, whose life received a new direction at Tihar. While at the prison, this inmate formed a musical band, ‘Rockers Band’, of which he is the lead artiste.
Rishab Chauhan, 32, says he has been in Tihar for the past four years, and has been fighting for bail since. 'A simple mistake of trusting someone I shouldn’t have landed me in prison,' he says.
Four years ago, Rishab was the area manager of a leading company in Connaught Place. 'I used to go to the gym regularly after office. I met someone there, and we became good friends.'
According to Rishab, one day his friend asked for his car because he needed to go to Aligarh. 'I readily gave it to him as I thought I knew him well by then.
‘The next day, when I was about to go to work, some police officials came to raid my house. They told me that my car had been seized, after a dead body was found in it, and that they had come to arrest the owner. 'My friend, I found had also been arrested for killing his girlfriend on the pretext of taking her for a drive. I was labelled a co-accused,' he recalls. Since then, Rishab has been awaiting bail.
Gradually, he got himself involved in the various training courses offered at Tihar, and also found a music band, ‘Rockers Band’, with five other inmates.
'My life now is surrounded by music. We practise for two hours every day. We write and compose our own music,' says Rishab, who is a trained tabla player. The band focuses mostly on western and classical music, and have been the winners of the Tihar Idols music competition last year. They have also compiled a collection of their songs which is available in the market.
Next Story
