Women freed from jail and returning home have brought happiness and joy to their families and lots of hope for those who are still in prisons and waiting for their release.
In fact the presidential ordinance ordering release of the innocent women who should have been released on bail or freed from prolonged detention much before in ordinary ways is an acknowledgement of the weaknesses of judicial procedure.
However, the initiative is welcome and sends a message in sanity to all the law enforcement authorities and judicial officials that dispensation of justice should be timely. Women who are being released have spent longer than necessary period of imprisonment for their mistakes if there were any. The harm has already been done to them.
A thorough investigation in all these 1300 cases should be made to find out as how many women in jail have lived there for a period of time that was more than the prescribed punishment for the crime they were allegedly booked for. They lived in jails as convicts without formal announcement of jail term and much before they were formally convicted.
The fault in the system still keeps thousands of women charged with heinous crimes, including acts of terrorism, murder and proven cases under Hudood laws. Some of them have given births and some must be expecting deliveries. Their children will be born residents of Pakistani jails. Who would clean this stain from their birth certificates - place of birth - jail?
It is common that prisoners remain in jail for want of proper investigation procedure, protracted and prolonged hearing dates and insufficient transportation facilities with jail authorities to transport prisoners to courts on fixed dates. Facilities for women prisoners are still meager. They also suffer from the brutal, hungry and lecherous behaviour of the jail staff who would want them to stay in prison.
Each woman freed on this occasion has a story to tell. Not necessarily all will be correct as scoundrels are in plenty - but because of the inadequacy of the system under which they were caught and brought to books have given rise to hair raising stories. These stories, which presumably are correct, are tales of misfortunes and accidents.
Zee (30), doe-eyed, fair complexion, tall, slim and having some knowledge of the spoken English language was arrested under Hudood Ordinance from a posh locality. She was kept in police lockup for four days where confessional statement was obtained from her. The police could succeed in knowing all about her and her connections. Her promoters were also identified. However, witnesses to the offence were yet to be found out. The only lacuna in the case still exists and is likely to remain so.
Her case was presented before a court from where the police took further remand on the pretext of further inquiry and recording of witnesses' statements. Police interest in the case began to increase with the passage of each day. Some formality was always left to be completed by the police. Official paperwork could never be done in time and the necessity of police remand seemed a never-ending procedure. But a time came when the court sent her to jail despite strong desire of the police to have her in police lockup for a few more days.
Her stay with police was very unpleasant. There were uninterrupted efforts to woo her to oblige the lockup staff and in return freedom was suggested. At times cold drinks were offered to her and fried chicken were ordered from the nearby bazar during interrogation. She politely refused all police favours and asked them to present her challan in the court.
There were moments she felt frightened and thought of disgrace that would befall on her if she made public all that she braved in police lockup. Silence prevailed over courage to rebel. On the one hand she had serious allegation of obscenity, indecency in public and breaking of all norms of good behaviour as a call girl and on the other she had a family that had no knowledge of her arrest and charges levelled against her. It was a complex situation she was in.
She said she was prepared to face jail hardships and on one occasion she succeeded after retracting her confessional recorded statement in police custody. Courage was needed to do so, as she didn't know what would happen if the police succeeded in taking her back to police lock up. The little courage she took up saved her from the police custody. She is now of the opinion that women in police lockups and jails suffer more because of lack of courage. A little display of courage, at times, saves women from humiliation.
She was sent to jail and her parents were informed about her whereabouts only after that happened. They located her in jail and met her to know the story of her arrest.
Zee narrated her ordeal and gave the background of her arrest to her parents who from the date of her arrest to release from jail on bail followed the case and fought it to get justice. However, the justice is yet to come. It is only release from jail on bail. The case would continue in a court of law till a decision is given.
Giving the background of her case she said that she would not like to go into detail of the case as the matter under dispute was about to settle amicably with her would-be husband who had in fact arranged the trap to get her arrested on false charges. It was his girl friend; pregnant of four months, blackmailed him into marriage only after getting me arrested under Hadood Ordinance. She has now eloped with another man after getting rid of her pregnancy. I pity the poor girl. She had little patience.
It is all over now. I have saved myself from disgrace and would like to save my would-be husband from any impending disgrace. He has suffered enough for his faults. He needs my support. I would not do what he did to me. I would not like to talk any more about my case. Minor misunderstandings and misjudgements can lead to such a devastating stage was never in my mind.
My days in prison were comfortable in the sense that I was under protective eyes of fellow prisoners. They had plenty of advice for me. There were children in the ward. They would play all day and amuse the inmates. Surprisingly, they had the good sense of propriety. They would not fight for food, whatever little was available was enough to share and enjoy.
Their mothers were from low income or poor background. They cared for each other and shared moments of despondency with courage. Each moment of despair was compulsorily converted into moment of hope. The only worry they had in the jail was all about the future of their children. Many of the children had no idea of the outside world and had no concept of a father. The plight of abandoned women was unbearable. They were caught on suspicions and cast away and forgotten by their families only on doubts.
These forgotten women have also come out of jails on bail. How their cases would progress would depend upon the way their families accept them. Most of these jailed women are determined to fight back. They want their sinners to suffer the same humiliation, which they had brought to them. The feeling of homelessness is awful. Women wrongfully made to suffer in jail would want justice and see their sinners get their due.
But the case of Zee is a typical case where she is prepared to forgive his sinners. She wants to live with those who threw her into the hell-fire and thought she would never come out to save her respect - regain her lost honour. But there is hope that brings the ultimate victory.