LF's rally to Lalbazar: Three arrested, injured protester in coma

According to reports, three protesters- Amal Pal, Soumen Pal and Chandan Basak- was arrested by the police during the rally and have been charged under IPC sections- 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 307 (Attempt to murder), 147 (Rioting), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 427 (Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 283 (Danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation), where IPC 353, 307 and 327 are non-bailable sections.

They were produced in Bankshall Court on Friday and sent to police custody for five days.

The Kolkata wing of the Left Front held a protest rally to Kolkata Police's headquarters Lalbazar.

Three rallies headed to Lalbazar started from Esplanade, Subodh Mullick Square and College Square area in Kolkata and setting up barricades, the  police stopped the rallies at Bentinck Street, Ganesh Chandra Avenue and B. B. Ganguly Street respectively.

A huge police force, the Rapid Action Force (RAF), combat force, riot police, water cannons and tear cell launcher vehicles were deployed in those areas to control the situation.

Left supporters engaged in a scuffle with the police force there. Protesters allegedly threw rotten eggs and tomatoes, aiming at the police.

Meanwhile, a huge number of protesters, including senior CPI-M leader Dipak Dasgupta, were injured during an unprovoked lathicharge by the police force at Phears Lane & Ganesh Chandra Avenue area. Few pedestrians and media persons were also attacked by the police force here.

Getting a serious head injury, one protester- Biswanath Kundu- was rushed to ESI Hospital and shifted to a private hospital on Thursday midnight and currently he is in coma.

"One medical board has been formed for his treatment. His craniotomy (surgical removal of part of the bone from the skull to expose the brain) has been done already. He is being treated in very critical condition under neuro ventilation supporting systems. After observing him for next 48 hrs, we will decide the next step of treatment," one doctor told IBNS.

LF leaders also condemned off the brutal lathicharge by the police. Organizing protest rallies everywhere in the state, the Left Front observed protest-day on Friday.  

Protesting against the 'unprovoked' police-action, they have called for a rally from Esplanade to Sealdah area on Oct 5.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police denied all allegations against them.

The Special Additional and Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Hdq), Rajeev Mishra said in a press conference here,  "Protesters attacked the police by sticks and restored to brick batting violently at two points- Phears Lane and Ganesh Chandra Avenue. In the attack, 50 male and 5 female cops were injured. Three FIRs was lodged- 1 in Hare St Police Station and rest 2 in Bowbazar Police Station. We arrested three protesters and forwarded them to the court today."

When he was asked about the protester who is in coma after getting head injury during the lathicharge, Mishra told IBNS: "Biswanath Kundu is a resident of Pragati Maidan Police Station area. He got head injury after falling in his house. He was not injured during the rally."

Describing the situation here, the Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Traffic) Supratim Sarkar said, "Protesters threw hundreds of stones and rotten eggs aiming at us. They used many slang words and bad gestures while talking with us. But police controlled the situation restrainedly. Their attack was pre-planned which was completely unexpected."

Denying the allegation of 'unprovoked lathicharge' by the police, the Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Central Division) Bastab Baidya said, "Nowhere police restored to lathicharge yesterday. Just chased to disperse the protesters. When police were chasing them, few protesters fell and got injuries."

But police could not show any footage or image in support of their statements. They also failed to produce any evidence on the presence of 'deadly weapons' in the rally.

However, the Kolkata wing of Left Front has decided to meet the WB governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to complain against the police-action. Left Front is also preparing to start a case in Calcutta High Court against the incident.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha, Image by IBNS)