ISLAMABAD, March 23: Illiteracy, poverty and lack of awareness about legal procedures are the major handicaps confronting the under-trial women prisoners.

After talking to under-trial women at the Islamabad district courts, it transpired that as a result of legal and societal discrimination, they were exploited by almost everyone, from the police guards outside the retention cell at the court premises to the so-called touts of court employees and lawyers.

Razia, facing charges of theft, said lawyers misguided her, as she wasn’t aware of the law. “My previous lawyer told me to give a fabricated statement before the judge, which had been prepared by him,” she said, and added that this landed her into more trouble.

Quite a few lawyers, she said, were only interested in minting money, rather than making a sincere effort to bail out their client.

The other major problem of the under-trial women is their limited capacity to bear the expenses for hiring defence counsel. “Most of the women are very poor and can hardly pay for the services of an experienced lawyer,” Naureen, another under-trial prisoner, said.

“Very few NGOs are offering legal aid. We need several more,” she said. “There are lawyers who do help us individually by either rendering their services free of cost or for a nominal amount, but they are very rare,” she said.

Another prisoner said some of the women were abandoned by their families following their arrest, as their kith and kin feared that continued association with them might bring them bad name.

This attitude further compounds the difficulties of women prisoners.

The women also regretted the slow judicial process due to lengthy court procedures, which prolonged their agony. Mentioning other problems, they said, the police caused inadvertent delay in presenting the challans of their cases in the court.

Lack of legal assistance and delays caused by non- production of challans in time often result in unnecessary hardships, rigour and suffering for these women.

This is much more significant in the back-drop of the fact that quite a few accused finally get acquitted. While the court acquits, it can hardly give back to them the precious days of their life spent in jail.

Ambreen, an educated under-trial prisoner, said besides the physical hardships they encountered during their trial, the psychological abuse they bore during the entire process could not be described in words. “I just can’t narrate our anguish, when people stare us as we are escorted to the courts,” she said.

The other problem encountered by the under-trial prisoners is that of transport. On their way to and from the courts, they are huddled together with men, causing great inconvenience to them.

Ms Imran, a lawyer, while suggesting measures for alleviating the sufferings of under-trial women, called for providing legal aid and counselling to such women. — Zahra Syed