As the ordinary inmates of Presidency Central Correctional Home in South Kolkata are gearing up to enjoy the ODI final on Sunday with the television sets placed at every ward of the correction home, uncertainties galore on whether the VVIP inmates there, including West Bengal ministers and MLAs housed there for various charges of corruption, will be able to watch the match.
The complications on this count arises from the fact that these high-profile inmates are locked in solitary cells in a particular ward, where the regulations for the inmates are stricter than those being housed at the barrack section of the same ward where ordinary inmates stay in groups.
While more than one television set is placed at the barracks where inmates stay in groups, the individual solitary cells do not have the provision for television sets. So in case these VVIP inmates have to be allowed to watch the ODI match they will have to be kept out of their respective solitary cells and allowed to stay at the barracks for the entire match period.
That is exactly where, said sources in the state correctional services department, the rules for solitary inmates as per jail manuals come against fulfilling the desires of these VVIP inmates in watching the ODI final on Sunday.
“As per rules the solitary inmates can come out of their respective cells for a specific period twice a day for some walk and or physical exercises and after that they are again required to go back to their respective cells. The same is not the problem with those ordinary inmates staying at their barracks since the television sets are already placed there only,” said a state correction services department official.
He also said that keeping these VVIP inmates out of their respective cells for a long period of time can also tantamount to breach of security.
Caught in labyrinth of solitary cell related rules are former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee, state forest minister and former state food supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick, Trinamool Congress legislator and former president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) Manik Bhattacharya and the party MLA Jiban Krishna Saha.
While Mallick is serving his judicial custody because of his alleged involvement in the ration distribution case, the other three VVIPS are housed there for their alleged involvements in the cash-for- school job case.
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