“Surviving Hell” is Nick Dunn’s account of his horrifying experience of injustice at the hands of India’s structures and functionaries. The book was published in hardback by Mirror Books (U.K.) in March, and will be published in paperback on September the 17th.
Why has the book been chosen as the Book of the Month in Pippa Rann Books & Media’s first month of operation? Because the book exemplifies and highlights the arbitrariness, heartlessness and Kafkaesque senselessness to which India’s judicial system has now degenerated.
Nick Dunn himself is owed not only an apology but very substantial compensation for mental stress and physical suffering which were inflicted on him for over four years, after he was entirely wrongfully arrested in a situation where *no* crime at all had been committed by anyone.
Rather, to be more precise, there was indeed a crime committed – the crime of arresting a group of people who were going about their work of protecting Indians and others from pirates.
India may not be the only country in the world where you can lose four years of your life in jail in the entire absence of any crime. But India is our country, and no one is going to clean up our systems and structures if we don’t.
The British government doesn’t come out with flying colours either, as it hides behind procedural niceties to justify its inaction not only in this case but also in numerous other such cases.
The people who shine out through the book “Surviving Hell” are the Indian young lady who befriends and supports Nick; Nick’s sister and parents; and the numerous others who in small and large ways contributed to the campaign for Nick’s release, and to his survival in spite of the hellish conditions of Indian jails.
The lesson which the book should drive home is that it is good if we invest time, energy and money in helping individuals who are being wronged, but every such case should inspire and energise us in the struggle to improve systems and structures – in this particular case, both in the UK and in India.
Dear Nick: choosing your book as our Book of the Month is our very tiny way of acknowledging, and apologising for, the wrongs done to you by our country and our citizens.
Purchase Surviving Hell on Bookshop
