That small children, otherwise outside the rigours of law in any civilised setting, should suffer the constricting surroundings of prisons for the sins of their mothers is highly iniquitous. There can be no two opinions on that score. The problem, peculiar to the Third World, arises from the fact that when the mother is convicted and sent to jail there is no one else in the house to take care of her child. She has no choice but to take the poor child with her. But whether the solution of this injustice lies in granting parole to the culprit, duly convicted by a court of law, would not find universal acceptability. A simple and, indeed, valid objection is that letting off criminals would offend against the principle of their getting just deserts to serve as a lesson to them and check infractions of law by others. The Punjab Minister of Jails, who has indicated that the government would not hesitate amending the rules to allow such women to go out of the jail on parole, should not lose sight of this fundamental precept. However, no one would disagree with him that mothers and their children should have better living conditions in jails. Those acquainted with the miserable conditions in our jails would anyhow welcome any move to make things better there. MPA Farzana Raja, while asking a question on the plight of children living with their mothers in jails, had demanded proper arrangements for their education. She had rightly pointed out that these children, having spent years within the precincts of prisons, found it hard to adjust themselves in society when they are 'released' with their mothers. While the government might claim that the children are in jails not for any of its faults, it cannot absolve itself from the obligation of taking due care of this valuable asset. Linked to this issue is the fate of children born in jail. Literacy, rather education, is a child's birthright, which in turn could become a precious human resource for the country. Children need companions of their age to play with, and playgrounds. Should there be special homes funded by the government or charitable trusts for such children to groom them into normal citizens? The entire question needs to be examined in detail before the authorities could decide how best to tackle it. [Source: The National Editorial]