Delhi’s harsh winters have made the life of every citizen difficult but it is a more-so trouble time for the homeless. Many are now being forced to commit petty crimes to have a roof over their head, the Tihar jail’s.

At the last day of 2018, the largest jail of South Asia, Tihar, had 16,000 prisoners under its roof against its bare capacity of 10,027. Many of the criminals with minor charges like theft are flocking voluntarily get arrested so that they could escape the cruel winters under the roofs of the prison.

“We have learnt from our interaction with some prisoners that they courted arrested to spend the winter months here,” a jail officer told on condition of anonymity to HT.

The officer further added that around 40-50 court arrests during the winter months of December, January and February, number is lower than last five years owing to homeless shelters and free blanket by government.

Jails turns out to be a decent option for the homeless as they get offered with a roof to sleep under, food, blankets and could avail medical facility at the place. Apparently, Tihar Jail has better provisions in comparison to other jails and this could be the reason of people voluntarily courting arrests.

On 29th December 2018 the national capital woke up to record breaking 2.6 degree Celsius.on The mercury had the lowest in the season till then. The NCR recorded an average minimum temperature of 6.7 degrees Celsius in December last year, the third lowest in 50 years.

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