Accident Or Homicide?
- On April 3, hundreds of students turn up in central Calcutta to protest TMC govt diktat on no student elections for six months
- After protests turn violent, students arrested and taken in a bus and sent to Presidency Jail
- Bus rams into lamp post. Police version says Sudipto Gupta, who was allegedly hanging on the door, hit his head on the lamppost
- Sudipto taken to SSKM hospital where he passes away. His body is sent for post-mortem.
- Police say it looks like accident but wants to wait for probe to be completed; Mamata is unequivocal, declares it an accident
***
On the evening of April 3, as 22-year-old Sudipto Gupta, a student leader of the Marxist sfi lay dying of head injuries in a hospital bed —an alleged victim of police brutality—Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee was caught on TV cameras attending the IPL opening ceremony to watch Shahrukh Khan, owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, dance. But if her silence on Sudipto’s death stunned the state, a day later she shocked everyone when she told news reporters in Bangalore—where she was travelling to attend a felicitation ceremony for musician Manna Dey—that the incident was “a small, petty matter”.
If all hell hadn’t broken loose in Calcutta till then—what with the thousands of people, including students, rights activists, civil society members and the general public, not to mention Left groups, descending on the city’s streets in protest—now it did.
But more than her dismissing the incident as insignificant, what is cause for concern is her unequivocal declaration that it was “an accident”.
Mamata at the Calcutta police HQ, Apr 3
Speaking to Outlook, a source involved with the investigations revealed: “It wasn’t an accident as is being claimed. There is forensic evidence to prove that the victim was beaten up. They seem to have pressed down on his neck with some sort of a rod. He also had injuries on his back, legs and face. There is an attempt to influence investigation from the top.” What doesn’t inspire confidence is the fact that Mamata herself controls the home department.
Indeed, while Mamata’s own joint commissioner of police, Jawed Shamim, claimed that “we cannot conclude anything until investigations are completed”, he too toed the line and highlighted parts of the post-mortem report which indicated Sudipto may have been hit on the head when the bus in which he was being taken to Presidency Jail (along with over a hundred other arrested students during their ‘disobedience’ rally) crashed past a lamppost. But eyewitnesses, including fellow arrested students who were on the bus, talking right after the incident, said, “Yes, he did hit the lamppost. But that’s not what killed him. Even after he fell to the ground, he was beaten with rods and hit on the face. His eyes had popped out.”
Sudipto’s death has also thrown up other controversies, like the role of political leaders in stoking youth rebellion. His sister has questioned the role of top Left leaders in “brainwashing” her brother and others to carry out their political will, without any heed to their safety. Left leaders have also been accused of tacitly taking advantage of the incident for political gain. CPI(M) leaders though pooh-pooh such allegations, with Mohammed Salim telling Outlook, “If you look at the history of the Left, most of the leaders of today have been involved in student movements. Making mileage out of an unfortunate incident is unheard of.” While the leaders are ready with their answers, Bengal today lives in fear. It fears when the CM stays silent. But fears more when she speaks.
