Yerawada

This is the largest jail in the State of Maharashtra. The most notable people to be incarcerated at the jail is Mahatma Gandhi, who spent several years there during India's struggle for freedom.

Yerwada Central Jail entrance.

A programme designed to spread Gandhian principles in Yerwada prison was introduced in Yerawada prison in 2002 by Asim Sarode, founder of Sahyog Trust. As part of the programme, the prison inmates are taught Gandhian principles for one year, at the end of the year, they have to appear for an examination. Admission to the course is optional. Four years after the initiation of the course, Sahyog Trust conducted a survey amongst the prison inmates to check the degree of awareness of Gandhian principles. The results of the survey were encouraging as 94 per cent expressed respect for Gandhi. A majority 77 per cent of them believed that social change can be brought about by love and friendship. Also, 66 per cent of them showed the willingness to apologise to the victim’s family and seek forgiveness from them.

Taking the Gandhian principles and ideas to the prisoners has led to a marked improvement in the levels of discipline at the prison. According to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police of the western region, Rajendra Dhamne, “the course has definitely contributed to the maintenance of peace inside the prison. The number of violent incidents amongst the inmates has comparatively reduced.”

The result of the survey has given a boost to the aforementioned Trust’s initiatives. It has also proved that even those judged as criminals have a human side to them and in many cases they only take to crime due to compelling circumstances (poverty, political disenfranchisement). The course adopts a reformist approach to tackling crime in the society. [5][Ajmal Kasab hanged here]

Bollywood film actor Sanjay Dutt and Mumbai terror attacker[6] Ajmal Kasab were also jailed there.[7]

Agha Khan Palace, where Mahatma Gandhi visited and stayed several times during India's Independence struggle, is located on Ahmednagar highway in Yerawada. This is a historical monument which is visited by hundreds of people daily.

Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah, Aga Khan III, ordered the construction of the palace in 1892 to provide employment to the people of the nearby areas, who had been famished. Prince Karim El Husseni, Aga Khan IV, donated the palace to India in 1969, in the honor of Gandhiji Andrew his philosophy. Aga Khan Palace is also known as Gandhi National Memorial because of its close association with Mahatma Gandhi.

One of the major attractions of the Aga Khan Palace is the samadhis (memorials) of Kasturba Gandhi (wife of Mahatma Gandhi) and Mahadev Desai (a long-time aid of Mahatma Gandhi). Since both of them breathed their last in there, Charles Correa got their samadhis built in the grounds of the palace itself. Gandhi's ashes are also interred at the Gandhi National Memorial of Poona. Exhibitions are held at the palace on a regular basis to acquaint people with the life and career of Mahatma Gandhi.

The palace served as the venue for the movie Gandhi. Since 1980, the management of the museum, samadhis and campus of the Agakhan Palace is under the Gandhi Memorial Society. The museum inside the palace complex has a collection of pictures depicting almost all the important incidents in the life of Mahatma Gandhi. There is also a wide assortment of his personal items like utensils, clothes, malas, chappals (slippers), letter written by Gandhiji on the death of his secretary, etc.[8]