Court raps jail super for allowing Partha Chatterjee to wear rings

Kolkata, April 26 Debasish Chakraborty, the Superintendent of Presidency Special Correctional Home, faced the ire of a special court on Wednesday for allowing former Education Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee to continue wearing finger rings as an undertrial lodged under his care.

Chakraborty had appeared in court on Wednesday to give his explanation on this count, as wearing rings while in custody goes against the jail code.

In his defence, Chakraborty said that since Chatterjee's fingers were swollen, the rings couldn't be taken out.

This explanation irked the judge further, as he said: "What was not possible in nine months became possible in nine minutes after the court's order. How is that possible?"

The judge also examined the registrar of the jail, and asked the Superintendent to give a written submission of his explanation in this matter.

"Are you setting your own set of correctional home rules and trying to justify them," the judge asked Chakraborty.

During a hearing on April 19, the ED counsel had pointed at Chatterjee wearing rings despite being in judicial custory, claiming that it showed how influential Chatterjee was.

Chatterjee had said then that he wears rings for health and religious purposes, which the authorities never asked him to take off ever since he has been in judicial custody.

On Wednesday, ED counsel Phiroze Edulji claimed in the court that there have been several charges levelled against the jail superintendent earlier also.

"A financial penalty of Rs 20,000 was imposed on him in an earlier case. Probably, some invisible hands are active and that is why he has not been transferred elsewhere yet," Edulji said.

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