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Reshma is one among hundreds of people languishing in prisons in Rajasthan and neighboring Indian states facing charges of drug trafficking. Poppy cultivation in Rajasthan is not rare. In and around Manur, there are large poppy fields. Though the license for most farmers is for a small patch of land, the actual area for cultivation is a much larger piece of property, meaning the excess yield will have to be laundered and brought to market through safe routes.
The safety of routes is ensured by bribing law enforcement officers, from the state police to law enforcement agencies often unrelated to such a trade, like the railway police. Huge quantities of drugs are transported through various means. The entire illegal process is done with the knowledge of law enforcement agencies. However, these agencies periodically have to record a few arrests and recover some drugs. Reshma is a victim of one of these operations.
The drug trade could not flourish with the help of just a few corrupt law enforcement officers, however. Although the number of police officers actively engaged in the drug trade is alarmingly high, they could not carry on their illegal activities without the support of local politicians and state-level political party leaders. Political parties, irrespective of ideologies and affinities, support the drug trade, for the huge amount of money involved in the trade also funds their parties.
The money is used to contest elections and propagate party ideologies. In the recent past, the ruling political party and its factions distributed weapons to its followers in the name of religion. Naturally, a large amount of money was required to procure these arms. The party leadership ordered local cadres to manage the affair from the money they could collect in their area. It is well known in the state that a major portion of the money came from the drug mafia.
The police and politicians alone though could not manage the trade without the help of yet another group within the state structure -- the state judiciary. An alarming number of court staff as well as presiding officers in the state judiciary are corrupt.
The state government has spared no effort to induct "favorable" officers into the system. The policy is meticulously followed in appointments ranging from court clerks to High Court judges. One of the most sought-after positions is that of the office of the prosecutor. In such a corrupt structure, it is difficult for officers with integrity to coexist with their corrupt colleagues.
It is for survival that poor women from villages in Rajasthan volunteer to do errands for these people, without much knowledge of the nature of the drug-trafficking business. Once they discover what they have agreed to do and try to escape from the clutches of the agents and a completely corrupt system, they realize it is impossible. Those who resist end up like Reshma -- in prison awaiting trial.
The conditions in prison, of course, are uncomfortable, and imprisonment naturally limits one's freedom. Restrictions of freedom are not the worst of what awaits a female detainee in custody. She is likely to be exploited for sexual gratification by prison officers, but the abuse will not end there. Some women are taken out of the prison for "external services," mostly for the sex trade. This violence against women also occurs with the connivance of officers within the system, including the judiciary.
Every person detained during the period of their trial, which can last for years, is kept in custody for 14 days. The remand must be extended every 14th day, for which the detainee must be produced in court. The detainees, women in particular, are never brought to court, however. They are taken from the prison and transported elsewhere. The presiding officer, who is supposed to see the detainee to extend the remand, does so without seeing the person. While their case is before the court and in their absence, with the connivance of the prosecutor, court staff and the judge, the women are forced to "deal with" their "clients," who book them through the prison officers.
By the time her case is finally tried -- probably after five to 10 years -- the female detainee is likely to be emotionally broken and physically unfit for anything other than to wait for the imminent death that looms for anyone infected with HIV/AIDS or other serious sexually transmitted diseases.
While the state of Rajasthan boasts about its culture and tradition, much less is known about its role in promoting and supporting the international drug trade. Needless to say, the role of a fallen justice system is never debated while human rights groups inside and outside of Rajasthan lament the deteriorating condition of the rule of law in the state.
Drug trafficking in Rajasthan is a flourishing business. No one would ever dare stop it since it is a gold mine of money, influence and power. Leaders of the state administration are intoxicated with this influence that is injected into Rajasthan like a powerful opiate by the drug mafia of the state. While the entire state is suffering from this intoxication, it is also poisoning the rest of the world by being a silent, but huge, supplier to the world market of illegal drugs and narcotic substances.
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(Bijo Francis, a human rights lawyer currently working with the Asian Legal Resource Center in Hong Kong, contributed this column while visiting Uttar Pradesh. He is responsible for the South Asia desk at the center. Mr. Francis has practiced law for more than a decade and holds an advanced master's degree in human rights law.)
