Kolkata observes shutdown: Open protest against Mamata?

Kolkata, April 4: Kolkata observed complete bandh on Thursday, April 4 to protest against the death of 23-year-old Sudipto Gupta, a Student Federation of India (SFI) activist.

Sudipto allegedly died due to police brutality on Tuesday (April 2) evening in Kolkata. The city of joy as Kolkata is popularly known mourned the death of young and bright Sudipto.

The city came to a virtual standstill after SFI called a day-long bandh to protest against the death of Sudipto.

Is the success of bandh an indication of open protest against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's government by the people?

Eye-witnesses said that Sudipto died as police had badly beaten him up and threw him out of the bus, where he and his fellow SFI protesters were bundled into after they protested against Mamata's decision of not allowing elections in colleges on Tuesday.

But, Mamata and other Trinamool Congress leaders, along with police maintain that Sudipto's death was an accident.

SFI General Secretary Satarup Ghosh, an eyewitness himself, said, "He was hit on his head so hard that one of his eyes came out."

"We were courting arrest when the policemen started beating us in the bus. One of the policemen hit Sudipto's head with a lathi and he fell down. When we demanded immediate medical help for him, the police refused," Ghosh said.

"There was a scuffle inside the bus as the students shouted slogans. One of the students hit a lamp post and was critically injured," Javed Shamim, Joint Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, said.

Moreover, post-mortem report say that Sudipto's body bears several injuries, thus rejecting government's theory that it was an accident.

On Wednesday, protests were staged in Chennai and New Delhi after the news of death of Sudipto spread across the country.

OneIndia News