BK-16 Prison Diaries: Sagar Gorkhe On Suviving Taloja Jail

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BK-16 Prison Diaries: Sagar Gorkhe on his battle to survive Taloja jail’s brutality

To mark six years of the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents in the Bhima Koregaon case, The Polis Project is publishing a series of writings by the BK-16, and their families, friends and partners. (Read the introduction to the series here.) By describing various aspects of the past six years, the series offers a glimpse into the BK-16’s lives inside prison, as well as the struggles of their loved ones outside. Each piece in the series is complemented by Arun Ferreira’s striking and evocative artwork. (This piece has been translated from Marathi to English by Vernon Gonsalves, read the original here.)

By Sagar Gorkhe

February 11, 2025

Address: Taloja Central Prison, Navi Mumbai; Circle Number 2, Barrack Number 4. It’s seven in the evening. The smell of the rancid wet garbage scattered carelessly in the corner of the barrack is troubling me to no end. Over it lies a layer of half-eaten leftovers, bidi butts and green gobs coughed up and spat out by tobacco chewers. Looking at it, I feel like vomiting. The flies buzz around, sit on those spit gobs and, as if on purpose, zero in on me. “Hey, go … go … shoo … go away.” However much I yell to drive them away, they just don’t seem to listen at all. I don’t know what to do. The doors of all four toilets in the barrack are broken. We have made a screen from sacks, but now there is a new problem. The toilets have become clogged in the rains; one can’t…