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Framed forever

BONDS OF SORORITY Life inside jail is full of unique relationships, as these photographs from "In Custody: Women in Tihar" prove

Coffee-table books exhibit the best of India — its colours, its joys, its festivities. This little hardcover from Roli Books is an exception though. “In Custody: Women in Tihar”, a photo feature by Renuka Puri, with text by Amba Batra Bakshi, captures the life of women behind bars in a jail that has come to be associated, in the public imagination, with both the worst and the best in prison stories.

The idea to put Renuka’s photographs into book form, and add text, first came to Roli’s Pramod Kapoor when he saw 10 of the photographs she had sent in to an exhibition featuring women photographers.

“I was very moved by the imagery she had exhibited,” says Kapoor. He notes that such books do not always sell well, but some books just “ought to be done.” His suggestion came as a pleasant surprise to Renuka, who had started taking the photographs initially because she, like every photographer, “was looking for a subject”.

Once when she went to Tihar on an official assignment, the photo journalist says, her notions of the atmosphere inside a jail were turned upside-down.

Sharing her experiences with her eight-year-old son and her husband, she found she was not the only one with Bollywood-moulded misconceptions. That black times could yield so many colours of hope, happiness and companionship was a revelation.

Thus the project to document the lives of the women in Jail No. 6 (the women’s jail) began. She asked Amba to join her to write the text, and they were given permission to interact with the women for a period of a year.

While the pictures speak for themselves, the text adds details that provide a glimpse into the workings of the prison that has become known for its liberal reform policies. Kapoor hopes to present the photographs in exhibition form once more, to bring this aspect of society into focus for those who may not buy the book.

Getting to know the stories of these women and photograph them in candid moods was not a quick process.

“Initially one just had to hang around,” says Amba, saying it took about three months of regular visits to get them to open up. “Some were very friendly, and some felt very threatened by us,” she recounts. Many of the photographs depict the lifestyle and atmosphere without revealing the faces of the subjects. Renuka explains, “I never compel anybody. The idea was not to show their faces, but their life.”

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