Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Black Warrant’ presents a gritty reality of life in the largest prison in India, Tihar. We follow the perspective of Sunil Gupta, who enters Tihar as a prison officer who wants to institute changes for the betterment of the inmates. He is surprised to see that his colleagues don’t necessarily think that way, but that doesn’t mean he is the only one who wants to do good. The prison’s accountant, Saini Sahab, shares Sunil’s sentiments and is encouraged by his optimism to join him in his endeavors. However, he has to pay a hefty price for this. The tragedy of his story is only consoled by the fact that it is a made-up element of an otherwise true story. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Fictional Saini Sahab Gives Depth to Sunil Gupta’s Story in Black Warrant
‘Black Warrant’ is adapted from the non-fiction book of the same name by former superintendent of Tihar, Sunil Kumar Gupta. Almost all the cases depicted in the TV show are based on his real accounts in the book. However, in adopting it for Netflix, the show’s creators developed additional characters and plot lines to give more emotional weight to the story. This is where the character of Saini Sahab (Rajendra Gupta) comes in. In his book, Sunil Gupta makes no mention of any accountant with the name of Saini, nor does he mention the case of a prison official’s death by suicide. The character and his circumstances in his show were created to support Sunil’s storyline.
Saini Sahab is introduced in the first episode of the series, although he almost always remains in the background. Because his job doesn’t require much interaction with the inmates, he mostly appears with prison officials, particularly Sunil, with whom he forms a camaraderie over their shared ideals and a desire to work for the betterment of the prison and the inmates. However, when Sunil is suspended for trying to do the right thing, he learns his lesson and decides not to go out of his way to change things. So, when Saini comes to him about the corruption of blankets, for which the inmates sit on a hunger strike, Sunil refuses to file a complaint, fearing he may lose his job.
Sunil’s refusal leads Saini to take matters into his own hands. Despite having worked at Tihar for so long, he doesn’t seem to understand the extent of corruption in the ranks. Against Sunil’s advice to do nothing, he meets with a superior to have an inquiry into the matter. Instead, he finds everyone turned against him. He is threatened with the loss of his job, which is made worse by the fact that he is due to retire soon, and getting fired would mean the loss of his pension, which would ruin his entire tenure of service at Tihar. Dejected by it, he takes his own life, which is made more tragic by the fact that the threat of getting fired was just a ploy to scare him.
He wasn’t actually going to lose his job and his pension, but the officials who played the joke on him didn’t stop to think about the impact it would have on him. As expected, the officials bury the case of his suicide. They know that Saini was close to Sunil, so to shut him up and to give him a consolation prize of sorts, his superior agrees to green-light the legal aid project, which got Sunil suspended the last time he tried to have it implemented. Losing his friend and trusted confidant has an adverse impact on Sunil’s psyche, but it also makes him even more adamant about rooting out the corruption and fixing things so that no one else goes through it again.
Read More: Geeta and Sanjay Chopra Murders: Are Billa and Ranga Based on Real Killers?
