E-Paper
Leadership | Saving the invisible victims
Three decades of turning a prison intervention into a movement for children who are invisible victims of parental incarceration, not convicted by any court, yet living with consequences they had neither chosen nor understood
Prefer HTon Google
“Madam, main teen number barrack mein rehta hoon. Aapka barrack kaun sa hai?” (Ma’am, I am lodged in barrack number 3. Which barrack are you in?) “Aaj toh meri mummy ki zamanat ho jayegi aur hum chale jayenge.” (My mom is set to get bail today, so we will be free.) “Didi, canteen se mujhe red papad mangwa do.” (Sister, please fetch me red poppadom from the canteen.)
These questions come from children who have committed no offence, yet grow up behind prison walls with their incarcerated mothers. According to National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) Prison Statistics India 2024, more than 1,300 children live in Indian prisons with their mothers. They may stay until the age of six. But what does a child see, hear and learn in those formative years?
In prison, children absorbed the language and routines of barrack life. Court visits exposed them to crowded lockups, long waits and proceedings involving their mothers. Some re-enacted courtroom scenes during journeys to court. Their world had shrunk to the women’s prison and occasional trips to court.
They were invisible victims of parental incarceration: not convicted by any court, yet living with consequences they had neither chosen nor understood.
1993: A change in the meaning of prison care
A turning point came in 1993, when I took charge as Inspector General of Prisons at Tihar Jail in Delhi. Seeing young children in prison, i recognised that they needed more than custodial care. They needed play, learning, affection and exposure to a world beyond the barracks.
With my team, I created a makeshift playway school in a portacabin. Civil society contributed desks, toys, books and stationery. Swings and a roundabout followed. Educated mothers were encouraged to teach and supervise the children; rhymes and songs brought a different sound into the prison compound.
With the help of an NGO, we arranged for children to visit the Rail Museum, Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Doll Museum and Children’s Park. Many tasted ice cream for the first time. Birthdays and festivals were celebrated, and schools provided uniforms. Mother Teresa visited the playway school. David Hudson, then regional president of G4S, became the first donor to the Tihar Crèche Programme, a relationship of support that continues till date. A space of confinement had made room for play and possibility.
1994: From an initiative to an institution
In 1994, when I received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for prison reforms and compassionate leadership, I dedicated it to establishing the India Vision Foundation, giving the work an institutional home and a continuing mission: Save the next victim.
The next challenge was continuity of care and education after children turned six and could no longer remain in prison with their mothers. The nuns of Assisi Convent in Delhi were among the first to offer help. Girls joined Assisi Convent School and its hostel, Asha Sadan, while boys were sent to St. John’s School. The Children of Vulnerable Families (CVF) Programme was developed for children made vulnerable by a parent’s incarceration.
Social workers and counsellors visited children, attended to their needs and organised Mother-Child Meets. Picnics, sports and competitions supported their development. The children also wrote their life accounts, in their own handwriting, for a book they titled Fateh.
Growing with the needs of children
The work expanded to Haryana in 2012 and Uttar Pradesh in 2015, following visits by officials. CVF 2.0 recognised that residential care was not always necessary. Where safe caregivers or extended family were available, children could remain at home with support for schooling, counselling, healthcare, exposure visits, sports and vocational skills.
During Covid-19, children in residential homes returned to their families. This accelerated the family model, placing family-based care at the centre wherever safe and appropriate.
Today, the CVF Programme supports over 300 children above six. Prison crèches provide younger children with early education, nutritious food, healthcare and play.
2026: The children speak
The 2026 alumni meet brought former beneficiaries together as one India Vision Foundation community, demonstrating what sustained care can make possible.
“Today, I wouldn’t be standing here with dignity and pride if India Vision Foundation had not supported me then,” said a 30-year-old alumna, now working with a multi-national firm (Genpact), married and a mother to a seven-year-old son.
“Aaj main jo kuch hoon, sirf India Vision Foundation ki wajah se hoon (I owe everything I am today to the India Vision Foundation),” said another alumna, aged 28, who works with Toyota Motor. Their words capture the programme’s impact. Children once defined by their parents’ circumstances are now building careers, families and independent lives—and can support others.
The larger lesson is simple: a child must never inherit the punishment of a parent’s crime. The Supreme Court’s RD Upadhyay judgment (2006) affirmed that a child in prison with the mother is neither undertrial nor convict, and is entitled to care, education and recreation.
Rights must become everyday realities through humane administration, committed institutions and community participation. The journey from a portacabin in Tihar to a network of support across states shows how one intervention, sustained and adapted over time, can change lives.
The real measure of this work is not only the children who were supported, but the adults they have become—and the lives they may now help save.
kiranbediofficial@gmail.com
(The writer, India’s first female IPS officer, is former lieutenant governor of Puducherry)
