'Forgotten as a human being, reduced to a number'

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, OCT. 20. Highlighting the importance of prison reforms and speedy delivery of justice, the Chief Justice of India, Dr. A.S. Anand, on Saturday narrated a heart-rending instance of an undertrial languishing in the Calcutta jail for the last 38 years.

Speaking at an international conference on ``New initiatives in penal reform and access to justice,'' organised by the Penal Reform and Justice Association (PRAJA) and the Andhra Pradesh Prisons Department, he said he had to spend a sleepless night when he saw a report he had sought from the Director- General of Police after reading details of the case published in a fortnightly.

Young Ajay Ghosh was charged with murdering his brother and produced before a magistrate on July 29, 1962. He was made to go through the process in September and November. It was only two years later, on February 8, 1964, that the magistrate passed an order that he shall be kept in custody ``because he is not mentally sound.'' Three months later, the order was repeated.

For the next 19 years he was in detention, ``forgotten as a human being and reduced to a number (allotted to prisoners).'' All through, no magistrate thought it fit to send him to a mental asylum or to a psychiatrist for treatment. In November 1983, it was again the similar report of ``accused be produced when he is mentally sound and physically fit.'' Two years later, on November 20, 1985, he was not produced but a similar report was submitted.

Four years later, in 1989, when the man turned 43, an advocate, seeing his plight filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court where he was produced on December, 20, 1994. The court gave a direction to the Inspector-General of Prisons to get him examined by a medical board. The board took one-and-a-half-years and on April 13, 1996, he was shifted to the Anthergam Psychiatric Centre. In 1999, on another direction of the High Court, a second medical board was asked to examine him. The board declared that complete recovery was remote and considering his age, he should be sent to an old-age home. Thirtyseven years went by but no relative came forward to take him nor did he remember if he had any.

Meanwhile, the person who filed the petition lost interest. It was then that he stepped in, Dr. Anand said, and sought a report from the State Government, the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and the DGP.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : NBA protests seeking review of SC verdict