'Murderers Are The Most Reliable People'

''It would be difficult for us to run jails if it wasn't for murderers.'

His warm and genial greeting over the phone belies the job he was in for decades -- assistant superintendent of police (ASP) in the dreaded Tihar Jail.

Sunil Kumar Gupta's 2019 book, Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer, has been converted into a Netflix series successfully and is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and Satyanshu Singh.

He is now an advocate in the Supreme Court and Delhi high court and has written two other books -- one on prisons laws and another on the rights of prisoners.

Gupta has many firsts to his credit. He was instrumental in framing the Delhi Prison Act and Manual, and initiated jail adalats in collaboration with the judiciary in the jail complex itself.

In 1983, he helped start the first Legal Aid Cell inside Tihar Jail for prisoners.

While basking in the afterglow of the series' success, Gupta tells Rediff.com Senior Contributor Shobha John that the job of a jailer is akin to slavery as most have to kowtow to their masters.

Part one of a two-part must-read interview:

You have been quoted as saying that the Netflix series, based on your book Black Warrant, is 90% correct.
Where was the 10% discrepancy?

It has been a bit sensationalised. For one, it gives the impression that I allowed notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj to escape from Tihar Jail.

But I was not even present when this escape took place on March 16, 1986. I only had a professional relationship with Sobhraj.

Secondly, the Tihar accountant who committed suicide is shown in the series as hanging himself, but he had actually cut his neck artery. Also, not all the gang names used are correct.

Did Charles Sobhraj's jail escape after feeding drugged sweets to the guards shock you?

Yes, it did. It happened on a Sunday and it was my off day. I was enjoying a movie on Doordarshan.

Suddenly, the movie stopped and it was announced that dreaded criminal Sobhraj had escaped with 12 other criminals. I rushed to jail.

Your book mentions high profile prisoners, corruption in Tihar and other illegalities there. Did you face pressure to withdraw the book or make enemies?

Yes, but when a person does any new thing, it can often attract enemies. I was criticised by senior bureaucrats.

Why did you write Black Warrant?

Tihar Jail used to be frequented by legal students, scholars and researchers who wanted to study the psychology of criminals, especially those who were going to be hanged and rapists. Rapists, for example, had a quick mindset.

However, when I retired in July 2016, Tihar had increasingly become strict for visitors.

So I wrote this book to help such students.

Also, I wanted to highlight the good work being done there to reform prisoners such as yoga and meditation. This can be implemented in jails abroad.

The actor who played you in the series, Zahan Kapoor, is seen as naive and upright. Was this how you were in 1981 which is the period shown in the series?

Yes, I very naive then and scared despite being an ASP. I was earlier in the Railways, but was always attracted to the khaki, so I joined the prison department.

Besides, I had old parents and wanted to remain in Delhi.

Zahan Kapoor got all my mannerisms and speech correctly despite meeting me just once.

He said he had watched all my earlier videos.

You seem rather soft as compared to the rough and tough image of a jailer. How did you earn the respect of prisoners?

(laughs) Yes, the softness is thanks to my genes and upbringing. The series wanted to show that one could be soft and yet run a jail.

I had no problems with any prisoner, but the jail staff was tricky to handle.

One can earn the respect of prisoners if they know you are fair, efficient and care for them.

But it is a fact that most of them are more comfortable with corrupt jail staff as it is easier to get things done with them.

As a jailer for decades, what have you learnt about criminal psychology?

I have learnt, ironically, that murderers are the most reliable people. Most of the important work in jails -- security, administration, discipline -- are handled by murderers.

That is because they have to stay in jail longer due to their crimes and are on their best behaviour so that they can get maximum remission.

In fact, it would be difficult for us to run jails if it wasn't for murderers.

Some of them were so reliable that the other prisoners thought they were jail officers.

Was there a difference when famous people were imprisoned?

Yes, the system came under pressure as these prisoners would try to buy everyone and everything.

Some who were guilty of economic crimes were put in the court complex inside the jail which had many facilities such as computers and video conferencing facilities so that they could arrange for the defrauded money to be given back to the victims.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com