Lucknow: As many as 448 prisoners lodged in Saharanpur jail have pledged to give up their criminal lives and start afresh as yoga instructors once they come out of jail.
These inmates have started learning Yoga under the guidance of yoga guru Bharat Bhushan and attend classes every day in the morning.
The guru not only teaches them yoga but also explains to them in detail the benefits of various ‘asanas’.
Most of the jail inmates have been convicted of serious crimes like murder, loot and rape while others are undertrials.
Jail superintendent Dr Viresh Raj Sharma said, “I spoke to the inmates and asked them if they wanted to learn yoga. All of them agreed but some still seemed worried. When I asked them about their problem, they said they would have no life once they left the jail. They know that the stigma of being in jail will get them no job. I explained to them that if they master yoga, they can take classes or even open their own yoga schools and this excited them.”Interestingly, the jail staff members and their families have also joined the yoga classes and the number of participants, at times, swells to over one thousand.
In Lucknow jail, a similar camp has been started and the yoga instructor here is Krishnanand Dwiwedi, a murder convict.
