My book is a form of protest: Arun Ferreira

Colours Of The Cage is an unsparing account of the nearly five years activist Arun Ferreira lost forever in Nagpur Central Jail after being accused of being a Naxalite In May 2007 Ferreira was forced into a car by 15 men beaten and blindfolded as he heard his abductors discussed the option of killing him off in an encounter Till September 2011 Ferreira languished in prison while nine cases were slapped against himOn one level one expects a prison diary to be searing and revelatory of a statersquos corruption mdash and Ferreirarsquos is thatArun Ferreira is studying criminal law to help political prisoners PicBipin KokateBut what makes his memoir most compelling is its pithy unembellished prose Ferreira lets his experience do the talking Like this mdash lsquoBoth my legs would be forced wide apart and a cop would stand on my thighs so that I couldnrsquot bend them Sometimes my interrogators would pinch my or pull my hair or pierce the skin under my nails with pinsrsquoThe book has illustrations depicting prison life which Ferreira attributes to his intense state of despair Ferreira began drawing to mdash ironically mdash cheer his toddler son up by illustrating superheroes in his letters back home He then began sketching the yard where they played volleyball and other sketches for the prisoners whom he taught geography English and maths ldquoWe were denied a geography textbook because it had a map of Nagpur What if we used it to escape from prison Naxalites are capable of such thingshelliprdquo says Ferreira wrylyA year ago to write a book on life in jail Ferreira went through a harrowing time while sifting through the letters he wrote back home to remember details ldquoI could see how much I had downplayed the details to protect my family from anguishrdquo says FerreiraThe activist also decided not name the policemen who tortured him ruthlessly ldquoThe bookrsquos aim is to expose the brutality of the system Taking names would expose some officials but the real tormentors higher up will remain shieldedrdquo He says he also wanted to essay the characters he met to throw up social or political issues For instance in the book Ferreira has a long discussion with a policeman who frequently beat up prisoners and broke a lathi or two during each beating which was called lsquoShyam Bhajanrsquo ldquoHe told me how prisoners mdash political and otherwise mdash must not have human rights Jail he sincerely explained must soften themrdquo remembers Ferreira He also recalls a debate with a prisoner who believed that if prisoners were a vote bank for politicians their plight would improveOften Ferreira writes about his thoughts on befriending those in jail for serious sexual offences including Allan Waters and those responsible for the Khairlanji massacre ldquoCompulsion mdash thatrsquos all thatrsquos there to it The isolation the nature of the place compels you to speak to whomever you canrdquo he explains As a political prisoner Ferreira deeply yearned for dialogue with other political prisoners debate and news of the outside worldMerciless abuse in prison has only strengthened Ferreirarsquos resolve He earned his postgraduate degree in Human Rights in prison is now studying to become a criminal lawyer to work with political prisoners and publishes illustrations on police atrocity in the online magazine DailyO ldquoThey couldnrsquot break me Now when I read about cases of torture I can read between the lines and determine the officialsrsquo real motives A suicide in the Anda cell for instance is rarely just that I use my experience to help others who are not even as privileged as me mdash tribals dalits for whom this torture is rule not an exceptionrdquo he saysAn illustration Arun Ferreira drew in the Nagpur Central JailA lot has changed in the five years he spent in jail mdash a reality Ferreira is not stranger to ldquoIrsquod say most things have got worse mdash the platforms to voice opinions and critique are few and shrinking There is still no respite from draconian laws such as MCOCA and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act which are often used to crush dissentrdquo says FerreiraThe only silver lining he sees is that political prisoners are again in the spotlight and the Free Binayak Sen campaign is a case in point says Ferreira ldquoPeople spoke about political prisoners in Indian history during Independence post Naxalbari the Emergency and now during Binayak Senrsquos release I donrsquot want to make my prison experience sentimental mdash I want to be the rallying point to fight for the causerdquo says Ferreira