Kolkata, Sep 5 While Presidency Central Correctional Home in Kolkata celebrated Teacher's Day function on Monday, one high profile inmate there chose to keep himself away from that function.
He is none other than former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general, Partha Chatterjee, who is being currently housed at the correctional home because of his alleged involvement in the multi-crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities scam.
Teachers' Day is celebrated every year at the Presidency Central Correctional Home, where some inmates, who were originally teachers and now entrusted with the assignment of teaching other inmates of the correctional home are felicitated with garlands and sweets by the prison authorities as well as the other inmates.
"We welcome all inmates to participate in the programme except those who can't be brought out of the cells because of security reasons. However, Partha Chatterjee did not respond and instead chose to keep himself locked in the prison cell he is allotted while the other inmates participated in the programme," confirmed an officer of the state correctional services department on condition of anonymity.
It is learnt that a total of eight such teachers, some convicted and some undertrials, who are currently inmates of the Presidency Central Correctional Home were felicitated on Monday. The function was attended by 300 inmates.
"We expected Partha Chatterjee to attend the function. However, he refused to make his presence felt and hence we did not insist," an official said.
He also confirmed that although the initial days were tough slowly Partha Chatterjee is getting himself acclimatized with the prison atmosphere. "However, he prefers staying in the cell on his own and avoids interaction with anyone as far as possible unless extremely necessary," the official confirmed.
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