Bengal asked to donate 2 lakhs to 'right' a 'wrong'

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 4. Expressing serious concern over the treatment meted out to Ajoy Ghosh, a lunatic undertrial arrested in Calcutta in 1962, and shifted to the Missionaries of Charity after languishing in prison for 38 years, the Supreme Court has directed the West Bengal Government to donate Rs. 2 lakhs to MoC.

A Bench comprising the Chief Justice, Dr. A. S. Anand, Mr. Justice M. Jagannadha Rao, and Mr. Justice V. N. Khare, in its interim order, made it clear that ``this payment is not being made by way of expenses for taking care of Ajoy Ghosh but only with a view to assisting the Missionaries of Charity to carry on with the good work that they are doing.''

The Bench pointed out that between 1964 and 1995, no efforts were made by the trial court or the Prison Superintendent to send Ghosh's medical reports and even medical treatment was provided to him only after the High Court intervened.

Expressing its anguish, the Bench said, ``there may be many like Ajoy Ghosh languishing in West Bengal or other jails of the country. There has been a complete violation of the statutory provision contained in the Prisons Act, 1900, the Cr.P.C. and the Indian Lunacy Act, 1912, in dealing with the case of Ajoy Ghosh.''

It further observed, ``the authorities are required to act according to law but the law has been unfortunately respected in its breach. There has been no fixing of accountability even after this court pointed out the existence of the sad state of affairs of Ajoy Ghosh.''

The payment of Rs. 2 lakhs was ``not an award for the sufferings already undergone which are incapable of calculation in terms of money.'' It was to renew a physical frame that had been battered and shattered due to the callousness of others.

The Bench asked the amicus curie as well as the State of West Bengal to file a submission/suggestion note for assisting the court to issue necessary guidelines and directions for ensuring that undertrials like Ghosh did not suffer in future.

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