It’s not just undertrials who spend a night in lockups. In Lucknow, there many who do it on their own volition — to neutralise ‘jail yog’ in their ‘kundali’. The district’s administration here plays a willing facilitator.

Meet 38-year-old businessman from Gomtinagar, Ramesh Singh, who served a 24-hour ‘imprisonment’ in May this year.

“After going through my ‘kundali’(horoscope), our family astrologer revealed that I have a ‘jail yog’, which would land me in trouble in future. Everyone in the family got scared since then. The astrologer then suggested us that if I spend some time in jail without any fault, the threat would end,” he said.

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