Resident of Gosaba still lodged in Bengal jail after B'desh SC acquitted him in 2019

Kolkata: A prisoner acquitted by the apex court in Bangladesh in 2019 is still languishing at a state correctional home, even after two years of his release order. Chittaranjan Gayen, a resident of Kumirmari under Gosaba police station in Sunderbans is presently lodged at the Baruipur Central Correctional Home.

Gayen was arrested by Bangladesh Police in 2003 in connection with an Arms case and the lower court at Satkhira in Bangladesh awarded imprisonment for a period of 30 years. However, he moved the higher forum challenging the verdict of the lower court and after several years, the Bangladesh Supreme Court acquitted him with the prosecution being unable to provide evidence in support of keeping him behind bars. The order of the lower court was also set aside.

Meanwhile, Gayen who had been lodged in a prison in Bangladesh after his sentence was transferred to Alipore Central Correctional Home (ACCH) in 2016 following finalisation of the prisoner exchange treaty between India and Bangladesh. However, after the shifting of ACCG to Baruipur, Gayen landed at the Baruipur Central Correctional Home.

After the release order, Gayen's family members knocked several concerned doors urging for his release but there was no result.

However, when a few months back Gayen like several other prisoners were released on parole as a preventive measure to decongest the correctional homes to curb the spread of COVID-19, he contacted Advocate Tapas Bhanja who has been appointed as amicus curiae by the Calcutta High Court for matters related to welfare of correctional homes and asked him to take up the matter.

"I have already written to the Registrar General of the high court furnishing all relevant documents pertaining to his release order and have asked him to bring the matter before the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. The Advocate General and ADG Correctional Services have also been informed of the matter," Bhanja said. The matter is expected to be heard soon.