It was far from a usual book release function with the Ernakulam Press Club bursting at the seams on Saturday morning. After all, the author was no ordinary man but a convict serving life term.
Jayanandan, alias ‘Ripper’ Jayanandan, was accused of five murders, convicted in two, and has been languishing behind the bars for over 17 years after a death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment
The Kerala High Court had given him a two-day escort parole for releasing his book Pulari Viriyum Munpe.
K. Narayana Kurup, former acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, released the book by handing over a copy to K.P. Rajagopal, father-in-law of the author’s daughter Keerthi Jayanandan
“The initial years of imprisonment were unbearable as I felt like a stormy sea and wanted to yell my guts out. I am unable to speak much even now (while outside the prison) as I still feel imprisoned like a man who feels his hand long after losing it,” he says.
Jayanandan says things started to improve after Anoop Surendran of Project 39A, an initiative of National Law University, Delhi, for improving the condition of prisoners and those on death row, and the then State Police Chief T.P. Senkumar encouraged the ninth standard dropout to turn to reading.
“I kept reading many famed works in my special cell. Henri Charrière’s autobiography inspired me to turn a writer though the biggest inspiration was the support of my family,” says Jayanandan adding that seeing a visually challenged person while being taken to court inspired the novel.
“I will keep reading and writing books, proceeds from which will go for the poor,” says Jayanandan.
His daughter Keerthi, a lawyer, argued her father’s case for parole. “My father was jailed when I was in sixth standard. I want to believe that we have weathered that stormy phase of life,” she says.
“During his incarceration for several years, he seems to have undergone a transformation, which induced him to write this book. Just like the saying every saint has a past and every sinner a future, we cannot write off this person since every individual has the potential for redemption,” said Mr. Kurup releasing the book.
