In September 2009, when newspapers reported that activist Kobad Ghandy had been arrested in Delhi’s Bhikaji Cama Place, there was a curious...
In September 2009, when newspapers reported that activist Kobad Ghandy had been arrested in Delhi’s Bhikaji Cama Place, there was a curious historical coincidence to the event.
Just over 90 years earlier, Madame Cama had been arrested for her efforts to further the cause of independence. Now, another privileged member of India’s tiny Parsi community had been taken into custody – in an area named for the freedom fighter – for his efforts to helped India’s most marginalised communities liberate themselves from the structures that perpetuated their exploitation.
The police alleged that Ghandy, who had attended Doon school and studied in London to be a chartered accountant, was a “top ideologue” of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
Ghandy, who is now 74, spent the next decade in jails across the country, facing a variety of charges. He was finally released on bail in October 2019. On March 16, Roli Books released his prison memoir Fractured Freedom, a chilling – and engaging – account of his experiences in India’s brutal jails.
In his book, Ghandy details his encounters with fellow prisoners. Amidst dons, rapists, and corrupt businessmen and people accused of political violence, two men earned his affection: Sudheendra Kulkarni, who had been arrested in the “cash-for-votes” case in...
