Alipore jail inmates to get computer lessons
KOLKATA: The inmates of Alipore Correctional Home are all set to attend computer literacy classes. The computer training centre was inaugurated on Tuesday. The inmates would be trained under project Umeed by Vedanta Foundation (VF), an organization running computer literacy centers in correctional homes across the country.
Anandamoy Sardar, a lifer and former tutor from Kultoli, will don the teacher’s hat and teach computer to his fellow inmates. Sardar, who has been serving his term for nearly six years now, was selected for the post by VF. Other faculty members will be from Microsoft. Sardar was arrested during a political clash in the South-24-Parganas. While the SUCI activist had completed his BSc second year prior to his imprisonment, he fnished his graduation in prison. He has also done basic computer courses.
“I used to give private tuition to students in my locality. Now I will be able to pursue the profession in the prison,” said an elated Sardar. VF will be giving him a monthly salary of Rs 3000 which will be handed over to his family by the jail authority.
The other prisoners were equally excited. “Acquiring this new skill could be of help when I am out of the prison. But I do not know if I would be selected as I have studied only till class VIII. I am keeping my fingers crossed,” said Sheikh Azan, who was convicted for a dacoity.
“The classes will be conducted through batches of 18 students each. This is an effort to bring the inmates into the mainstream,” said minister of correctional administration Shankar Chakravorty.
Sushanta gets a hero’s welcome
KOLKATA: He went in as a fall guy, largely ignored by his senior comrades. But when CPM MLA Sushanta Ghosh walked out of Alipore jail on interim bail on Tuesday, there was a cheering crowd to greet him. There were slogans, bouquets, smiles and back-thumping.
If CPM couldn’t find a hero in its darkest phase, it was going to create one. Sushanta is going to be put on the dais at CPM’s Brigade rally on February 19.
The CPM strongman has spent more than six months behind bars in connection with the murder of five Trinamool Congress activists at Garbeta’s Benachapra, his ancestral home. He was granted bail in Supreme Court and the papers for his release reached the Midnapore court on Monday evening.
Early Tuesday morning, Sushanta’s legal counsels collected his release order and a special messenger set off for Kolkata with the documents around 11.15am. A procession of CPM leaders and supporters from Midnapore followed. Meanwhile, in Kolkata, a thousand-strong crowd had gathered in front of Alipore central jail to greet the Garbeta MLA.
A flock of senior leaders – Rabin Deb, Amitava Nandi, Sujan Chakraborty, Deepak Dasgupta and even the Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra – spent a few hours in front of the jail to receive their long-time comrade.
Apprehending a crowd, police had been deployed in strength since early morning and guard rails had been put up in front of the main gate. Around 2.25pm, jail guards escorted Sushanta to the main gate. As soon as he stepped out, the welcome party started shouting ‘Comrade Laal Salam’. A group of young supporters sang “We shall overcome” and a clutch of students handed him a bouquet of 181 red roses for each day spent in jail.
Senior party leaders hugged him. His close aides like West Midnapore district secretary Deepak Sarkar, Bijay Pal and Satyen Maity were in the front row. Sushanta’s wife Karuna, a CPM district committee member, was pushed to the end of the queue when the crowd surged forward. Finally, with the help of police and party leaders, the couple got into a car around 2.48pm and headed for the MLA hostel on Kyd Street.
Sushanta looked pleased but avoided speaking to the media. “The party will speak. I will not say anything. So many people have come to the jail gate. It is upto you to make out what it means,” he said. He might leave for his home in Garbeta where his elderly mother Mrinmoyee has been waiting. “I saw my son’s release on television. I am waiting for his call,” Mrinmoyee told TOI.
Alipore jail decks up for election after a decade
KOLKATA: Can you imagine festoons, posters and election symbols pasted on every wall of the prison. Such is the picture at Alipore Central Jail, where the convicts will fight a completely different battle very soon. After more than a decade, Alipore Central Jail will have an election called the panchayat. Speculation is rife among the inmates regarding who would be the best candidate to elect.
State IG Prisons, Ranvir Kumar on Sunday said he has asked the Alipore Central Jail authorities to prepare for the panchayat elections within the jail that was stopped more than a decade ago due to security reasons.
The panchayat is held among convicts in a prison, to elect fellow convicts who would look after the welfare of inmates in terms of lodging, hygiene, recreational activities, food and grievances, among other things. Convicts are not allowed voting rights as per provisions of the Representation of People’s Act, so they cannot cast votes in the democracy outside the confines of the prison walls. So this arrangement has been made to create their own form of democracy within the prison world.
For this, ballot papers are printed, and campaigning is also allowed. For central jails, there are usually six to eight posts where 12 to 16 candidates fight it out between themselves while the chief controller of prison looks after the panchayat arrangements.
But such elections in Alipore Central Jail is a different ballgame altogether. Earlier this month, guards at this central jail seized an improvised gun and five rounds of live cartridges from the dreaded don Sadique Zafar alias Gudda, who is serving sentence here. During the same raid, a cell phone and a SIM card was obtained from another convict, Gunjan Ghosh.
According to Kumar, “Despite the incident, the jail is fully under our control. And thus, holding a panchayat is not going to be a problem. We want to hold it as soon as possible, and a date will be finalized shortly.”
The idea behind elections within the prison is that prisoners have their own sense of “internal democracy” about their welfare. The elections are also about the spirit of friendliness, camaraderie, leadership qualities, as well as a little bit of fun and enjoyment.
Gun, cartridges seized from don in Alipore jail raid
KOLKATA: Guards at Alipore Central Jail on Monday evening seized an improvised gun and five rounds of live cartridges from dreaded don Sadique Zafar alias Gudda, who was serving his sentence at the correctional home at present. This was perhaps the first time that firearms were found with an inmate in any jail in the state. A gun was seized from an inmate of Amritsar jail in June last year.
The unscheduled raid also yielded a cellphone and a SIM card from another convict, Gunjan Ghosh.
Gudda, a central Kolkata don, had been charged with dozens of cases of murder, extortion and kidnapping. Weeks after his release on bail in September, 2010, he was arrested from the Park Street area for his involvement in a series of abductions. Not to be mellowed while in jail, Gudda made extortion calls from his phone and a trader from Entally lodged a complaint against him in June, 2011, for alleged extortion calls.
Gunjan, on the other hand, is one of the shrewdest and ruthless criminals from the past decade. He was the mastermind behind Roma Jhawar’s abduction and the murder of Mithun Koley.
The recovery of the ammunition once again revealed the nexus between some jail guards and inmates. Jail sources said both Gudda and Gunjan were kept in cell number 3 as solitary inmates. While Gudda was lodged in a ground-floor room, Gunjan’s room was on the first floor adjacent to the one where six AMRI directors are lodged.
Soon after the raid, senior jail department officials ordered an inquiry realizing the gravity of the incident. Jail officers claimed that it is next to impossible to smuggle in a gun through the tight security barrier. “Every inmate and jail staff enters the jail through door frame metal detectors. Even food from outside is passed through metal detectors,” said a jail officer. He hinted about insiders’ role in smuggling of the gun. Jail sources said Gudda was taken for production at Howrah court on Monday afternoon. It is suspected that he probably managed to procure the ammunition at that time.
During reentry, Gudda managed to smuggle in the gun perhaps with the help of guards, said a jail staff. Following initial inquiry, the jail superintendent suspended two warders for negligence of duty. Two others, including a discipline officer, were suspended on Tuesday, said IG Prison Ranvir Kumar.
A section of jail officers believes that Gudda was planning to handover the gun to Gunjan whose room is next to the AMRI directors. “Gunjan is now very close to Gudda. They were probably planning to extort the AMRI bosses,” said a jail officer. Kumar, however, claimed that he is not aware of any extortion bid inside the jail.
Late on Monday, Gudda was shifted to Dum Dum central jail.
After cell phones and cannabis, jail inmates now have guns too. During an unscheduled raid late on Monday evening, jail guards recovered an improvised gun and five rounds of live cartridges from the cell of dreaded don Sadique Zafar alias Gudda at Alipore Central Jail. This is perhaps the first time that firearms were found among inmates of any jail in Bengal. During the same raid, a cell phone and sim card was also seized from another convict Gunjan Ghosh’s possession. A gun was seized from an inmate of Amritsar jail in June, 2010.
Gudda, a dreaded central Kolkata don, has been charged with dozen’s of cases of murder, extortion and kidnapping. Weeks after his release on bail in September, 2010, he was arrested from the Park street area for involvement in a series of abductions. Not to be mellowed while in jail, Gudda made extortion calls from his cell and a trader from Entally lodged a complaint against him in June, 2011 for alleged extortion. Gunjan, on the other hand, is in the police’s eyes one of the shrewdest and ruthless criminals in the past one decade. He was the mastermind behind Roma Jhawar’s abduction and the murder of Mithun Koley.
The recovery of the gun and ammunition once again revealed the nexus between some jail guards and inmates. Jail sources said both Gudda and Gunjan were kept in cell number 3 as solitary inmates. While Gudda was lodged in the ground floor room, Gunjan’s room is on the first floor adjacent to the one where six AMRI directors are lodged.
Soon after the recovery, senior jail department officials were informed. They ordered an inquiry realizing the gravity of the incident. Jail officers claimed that it is next to impossible to smuggle in a gun through the tight security barriers. “Every inmate and jail staff enters the jail through door frame metal detectors. Even food from outside is passed through metal detectors,” said a jail officer. He hinted about insiders’ role in smuggling of the gun. Jail sources said Gudda was taken for production at Howrah court on Monday afternoon. It is suspected that he probably managed to procure the arms and ammunition at that time.
During reentry, Gudda managed to smuggle in the gun and ammunition inside the premises perhaps with the help of guards, said a jail staff. Following the initial inquiry, the jail superintendent suspended two warders for negligence of duty. Two others, including a discipline officer, were suspended on Tuesday, said IG Prison Ranvir Kumar.
A section of jail officers have reason to believe that Gudda was planning to handover the gun to Gunjan whose room is next to the AMRI directors. “Gunjan is now very close to Gudda. They were probably planning to extort the AMRI bosses,” said a jail officer. Kumar, however, claimed that he is not aware of any extortion bid inside the jail.
Late on Monday, Gudda was shifted to Dumdum central jail.
