Rehabilitation centre's office ransacked after torture of inmates comes to light

Inhumane torture on inmates of a rehabilitation centre at Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas came to light after an inmate managed to flee and lodged a complaint with the police.

Local people attacked the employees of the rehabilitation centre, J Jibanjyoti Foundation, soon after the news of the torture on inmates spread in the area.

They even ransacked a portion of the office room of the rehabilitation centre.

The police arrested three senior officials – Dipankar Roy, Somnath Mitra and Ranjit Chakraborty – on the basis of the complaint lodged with Sonarpur police station.

Police said that a few days ago, an inmate had managed to flee from the centre.

He went to the family members of another inmate and narrated how each and every inmate was tortured by the authorities.

The family members went to Sonarpur Police station to lodge a complaint.

Initially, officers in the police station did not register their complaints. Later, after much requests, the police took their complaint.

Family members of the inmate alleged that the rehabilitation centre authorities handcuffed the inmates and used to beat them up severely with wooden logs. They also allegedly used to give inadequate food to them.

Based on the complaint, a team comprising senior police and administrative officers of South 24 Parganas district including the SDO and the SDPO of Baruipur conducted a raid in the rehabilitation centre and discovered the handcuffs and wooden logs in there.

The police arrested the three senior officials of the centre and the district administration started taking necessary steps so that the inmates do not face any trouble.

The inmates were found standing at the windows of the rooms in the first floor of the rehabilitation centre.

They were crying out for help and raised several allegations against the authorities of rehabilitation centre.

The local people also claimed that they had been receiving various complaints against the authorities for quite some time.

They were about to move to the police, but before they could go, an inmate fled and a complaint was lodged with the police.

Thus, residents of the area vented their anger on workers of the rehabilitation centre soon after the matter came to light after the raid conducted by the police.

It may be mentioned that a month ago, authorities of a home for destitute children in South 24 Parganas were arrested on charges of being involved with a newborn babies trafficking racket.