New Delhi, India – On May 25, the day India celebrated Eid al-Fitr, Talha, 12, and five-year-old Mariam slept with their mother’s mobile phone next to them all night.
They had not spoken to their father, Khalid Saifi, since a nationwide lockdown was imposed in India on March 25 to check the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“They thought he would call on that day [Eid], ” his wife Nargis Saifi told Al Jazeera.
Khalid, in a New Delhi jail since February, is among thousands of prisoners awaiting trial as India’s criminal justice system came to a complete halt during the pandemic.
Under the lockdown, legal services were not classified as essential by the government, which allowed only a small number of “virtual” courts to operate.