Faisal Fareed
Daijiworld Media Network - Lucknow
Lucknow, Aug 13: For thousands of sisters the festival of Raksha Bandha turned into an ordeal. With their brothers in prison, the sisters turned up at the jail waiting for their turn to tie the sacred thread on the hands of their brothers.
On Sunday, as Lucknow celebrated Raksha Bandhan, sisters tied rakhi on the hands of their brothers wishing long life of their brothers. The brothers too responded in affectionate gesture for their sisters. However, for the sisters whose brothers are in jail, the festival remained a nightmare.
As per jail authorities 1100 sisters had turned up at district prison for meeting their brothers who are serving sentence in the jail. Located at the outskirts of Lucknow the new jail at Gosaiganj is around 20 kms from district headquarters.
The women with colourful rakhis and sweet boxes reached the jail at around 7 am. However, their wait continued and many of them were able to meet their brothers at around 5 pm. Jail inmates too anxiously waited for their turn to meet their sisters. It was really touching moment with tears in eyes of both the brothers and sisters on the occasion. The sisters wished their brother an early release while some of the inmates could offer little gifts from their end. Prisoners as Dara Singh whose sister Sheela had arrived with rakhi was inconsolable while she tied the rakhi. Similar scenes were seen when prisoner Anand streched his hand for his sister Mayadevi to tie the scared thread. Another prisoner Naresh wished that he was outside and free so that he can offer something to his sister Ranjana. While Sajjan could not muster enough words to express his feelings to his sister Baby. Deepu another prisoner just assured to give the return gift once he is freed to his sister Manjeeta.
The long queue at the jail reflected that sisterly love knows no boundaries. The wait also turned troublesome for most of the sisters as it is a tradition that eat only after tying rakhi to their brothers. For some the wait was really long from 7 am in the morning when they turned up to 5 pm when their turn came. Some of them even alleged that jail employees were extracting Rs 200 for facilitating their turn early.