Mixed Reactions in India
VERDICT// RJD chief Lalu Prasad was given five-year jail term in the fodder scam case. In December, Lalu Prasad moved the Supreme Court seeking bail. An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice P Satahsivam, before whom the matter was mentioned by senior advocate PH Parekh assured that the case would be taken up.
Lalu, whose Parliament membership was taken away after being convicted in the case, moved the apex court challenging the order of the Jharkhand high court which had dismissed his bail plea. The Jharkhand high court had on October 31 rejected the bail plea of RJD supremo, who is lodged at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi.
Lalu, another former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and 43 others were on September 30 convicted by the special CBI court Judge Pravas Kumar Singh in the fodder scam case involving fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa treasury during the Laluled RJD regime. Ailing Mishra secured provisional bail from the high court till January 8. The CBI court had pronounced varying prison terms to the convicted persons on October 3. RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who is undergoing a five-year jail term in a fodder scam case, on Monday moved the Supreme Court seking bail. The former Bihar chief minister is tending lawns, flower beds and vegetable patches at the jail in Hotwar, after he was allotted this work a week ago. The Jharkhand high court had rejected his bail plea on October 30. The other convicts in the scam 3 IAS and 1 IRS officer have turned teachers inside the jail. According to sources Lalu is enjoying the work as he is supervising work and instructing other gardeners. He will get a day off each week. Spread over 52 acres, the jail boasts of well-maintained lawns, gardens and vegetable plantations. Jail authorities decided not to allot him teaching due to security reasons, though Lalu holds a political science degree.
Around 30 per cent of the 3,000-odd prisoners at Hotwar are hardcore criminals and 10 per cent Maoists. But Lalu Prasad lives in the VIP ward. His room has an attached bathroom and he gets TV, newspapers, magazines, a mosquito net, cot, bedding with two pillows and separate cooks. “I allotted him gardening work after considering all aspects of his work. In case of a teaching job, Lalu needed to be in a hall with around 300 criminals, many of them extremely dangerous,” said jail superintendent Virendra Kumar Singh. Former IAS officers Fulchand Singh, Mahesh Sinha and Beck Julius, and IRS officer A.C. Choudhary, teach inmates pursuing distance learning courses.