BJP Worker Dies during interrogation by Kolkata Police as he refused to falsely identify a Muslim woman for theft: Case filed against 3 cops

A BJP worker, Rajkumar Shaw, died during interrogation at Sinthi Police Station in Kolkata, on Monday, 10 February. Shaw was arrested from his home around 11.30 in the morning. He had refused to accede to the demand of the police to identify a Muslim woman, Asura Bibi, as a thief. He was beaten up by the police for this refusal, kicked in the chest and given ‘electric shocks’, as testified by Asura Bibi, who was witness to the interrogation for some time. A pregnant Asura was also reportedly beaten by the police.

Some sanitary and plumbing materials had been reported missing from a construction site in the locality. The police had, on Monday, arrested Asura Bibi on charges of stealing these items. Asura pleaded innocence. To this, a furious police retaliated by picking up Rajkumar Shaw, as having bought the stolen items. Rajkumar Shaw owned a small scrap iron business in the locality. Rajkumar vehemently protested against the allegations of the police against Asura. The frustrated police, according to Asura, then demanded Rupees one lakh twenty thousand from Rajkumar as price of the stolen goods. At one point of time, the police also offered to drop the case if Rajkumar paid fifty thousand rupees, she said.

Meanwhile, family members and neighbours of Rajkumar Shaw had reached the police station. Around 6 pm, they were told Rajkumar had fallen ill and was being taken to the nearest R G Kar hospital. Hospital sources, however, confirmed he was brought dead.

Rajkumar’s family members and neighbours started protesting in front of the Sinthi Police Station. The local Trinamool Congress Councillor, Gautam Haldar, reached the spot with his goons and chased the protesters away. The relatives of the deceased were again beaten up by the Trinamool goons. Dinesh Pandey, North Kolkata BJP President and Brajesh Jha, Convenor, Legal Cell of West Bengal State BJP had rushed to the spot. They were also manhandled by the miscreants and their cars ransacked.

The BJP had decided to take out a procession from Bagbazar to Sinthi on Tuesday. But the local police did not give the necessary clearance.

Meanwhile, the family members of Rajkumar have filed a FIR against two sub-inspectors and a sergeant of the Sinthi police station, under Sections 166, 166A, 330, 342 and 348. The post mortem was conducted on Tuesday in the presence of a judicial magistrate and a judge of the Sealdah Court. The entire proceedings of the post mortem and the depositions of the family members were video recorded. A case has also been filed in the High Court, following which the Court ordered an enquiry and submission of the report by 25 February.

This entire shameful and ghastly incident once again exposes the pathetic situation of law and order in West Bengal. It underlines the helplessness of ordinary citizens in the hands of the police and exposes the unholy nexus between the police and the promoters in matters of extortion and harassment. The promoter-police entente in the state only reflects the decadence of the rule of law.

Mamata Banerjee has perhaps forgotten the Bhikhari Paswan incident of October 1993. Bhikhari, a jute mill worker, had been whisked by the police to the Telinipara Temporary Outpost in Hooghly district, where he was reportedly tortured to death. Mamata Banerjee had found in it a chance of her emergence as the messiah of the poor.

However, in the attempt to victimize BJP workers across the state, Muslims, who have no access to the TMC power structure, are also being subject to harassment by the police and administration of Mamata Banerjee, who has emerged as the messiah of Muslims in her new avtar. The case of Asura Bibi is an example.