Prisoners complain meals are so unhygienic one loses 10kg a month

It is not just Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. People who have served sentences in Arthur Road and Byculla jails also say that the food served to convicts and undertrials is "unpalatable" and "not fit for human consumption".

Thakur, an accused in last year's Malegaon blast, has filed an application in Mcoca court alleging that the food served in the Byculla jail, where she is lodged, is not fit for "human consumption". Former prisoners said that jail inmates are forced to eat the food since they have no other choice.

"The quality of food is very bad," a 35-year-old man, who was lodged at the Arthur Road jail for three years on murder charge, said. "There are worms in the rice served; dal is just yellow water." He was released on bail in January.

"The quality of vegetables is also dismal," another man who was in Arthur Road jail for a year for robbery said. "They buy leftover vegetables and serve them to the inmates," he said. There is hardly any cleanliness in the prison, particularly in the kitchen. The kitchen is swarmed with rats, he said.

Another undertrial who spent nearly four years in Arthur Road and Byculla jails in said worms in rice is a common sight. "For palatable food, I used to befriend prisoners who had permission to have home-cooked food," he said. Anyone sent to the two prisons will lose at least 10 kg a month, he said sarcastically. "If you have to spend a long time, you will have to get used to the tasteless food."

Human rights activists said little has been done to improve the quality of food in prisons despite many public interest litigations being filed.

Poornima Swaminathan/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication