Malda court releases prisoner

MALDA, Jan. 5: Following intervention of the chairman of the state legal services Justice Mr Pinaki Chandra Ghosh, the chief judicial magistrate in Malda court, Mr B N Singh, today ordered the release of one Ananda Das, a convicted inmate in Berhampore central jail. He had served extra rigorous imprisonment time after completion of the due date of his punishment.

Das's wife Bhanu with the help of Malda Ramkrishna Mission sought assistance from the state legal services as she was not able to deposit a sum of Rs 2,000 fine imposed on her husband in the Malda court due to some complexities. Mrs Das wrote to the chairman of the state legal services, Justice Mr Pinaki Chandra Ghosh describing the problem and seeking help.

On Saturday, the chief judicial magistrate in Malda court, Mr B N Singh, instructed employees of Malda court, who allegedly had refused to receive the fine amount, to immediately look up the records of judgments issued by the former chief judicial magistrate related to the Ananda Das case. It may be noted that, on 27 March, the former chief judicial magistrate, Malda Mr Dibakar Das, had judged Ananda Das guilty under section 326 of the Indian Penal Code for assaulting his cousin Thagen Das at Gobindapur village in Malda on 25 August 1984. The CJM had sentenced Das to seven years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2000, failing which an additional year's RI.

Interestingly, the court employees found from records that the former district session judge Mrs Keya Basu, had reduced the term of rigorous imprisonment from seven to three years when Ananda's lawyers, late Amal Maitra, Mr Nazrul Islam and Biswanath Deb Gupta had appealed to the district session court. On 8 September 2003, Mrs Keya Basu , former district judge, had sentenced Ananda Das to three years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000 , failing which an additional two months RI. She had also slapped a fine of Rs 2,000 to compensate Thagen Das.

The verdict is yet to be communicated to the jail authority by the Malda court, which is causing ripples."It is a gross example of human rights violatation,” stated Swami Divyananda, chief of Malda Ramkrishna Mission. n SNS