A struggle for education inside a juvenile detention home.

In June 2018, The Caravan Magazine, a journal of politics and culture with a focus on long-form narratives, was working on a written story on the Umerkhadi Observation Home for juvenile convicts in Mumbai. The magazine commissioned me to conduct a visual documentation of the home and the boys who inhabit it. These photographs were made during the course of the assignment which focussed particularly on the access to education for the boys in the remand home. Umerkhadi Observation Home, also known as the Dongri remand home, is a juvenile detention centre that houses two categories of children who are left in charge of the state—those that are abandoned, rescued or orphaned, and minors charged with crimes. The crimes range from petty theft to sexual assault and rape. The former group, which also includes minor girls who are victims of rape, are housed on the western side of the Umerkhadi campus until they are reclaimed by their families, adopted or rehabilitated to a permanent home. The boys convicted of crimes are kept in a building that is locked and guarded on the other side of the campus. They are kept here for as long as their cases remain pending under the Juvenile Justice Board. With public sentiment moving towards advocacy for measures such as the death penalty, even for juveniles, in the cases of rape of a minor, it is evident that the faith in the criminal justice system for reform and rehabilitation of accused persons is dwindling. Once accused, many of the boys in the home are convinced, by the police and other functionaries of the system, that they have indeed committed the crime—often even before their cases have been resolved in the courts. Given this atmosphere, the project aims to document and explore the lives of these young boys as they navigate the complex systems of incarceration in India. Most of these boys come from impoverished backgrounds, ones that they will return to, if and, when they get released.

Story : Chatura Rao

Photographs : Zishaan A Latif

Commissioning Editor : Tanvi Mishra

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