Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Like many other institutions across Kolkata, students, staff and alumni of school in Biddhannagar recently marched demanding justice in the RG Kar rape-murder case. What made the Salt Lake School’s march stand out was that it also demanded justice for a student of the school who died in an accident on July 18.
The parents of 16-year-old Angikar Dasgupta are yet to come to terms with their older son’s death and are traumatised by what they had to undergo at the hands of the police.
“The incident happened when he was coming home from school by bus L-238,” Angikar’s father, Dr Anjan Dasgupta, told The Telegraph Online.
Angikar, whose family lives near the airport, was hit by a bus near Haldiram’s on VIP Road.
A local rickshaw puller who knew him informed the family at around 5:20 pm that Angikar had been taken to Charnock Hospital, seriously injured but still alive. The parents rushed to the hospital in Tegharia, reaching by 5:40 pm.
They were told that the police had taken away their son. The authorities informed them later that Agnikar had “maybe” been taken to RG Kar Hospital, quite far from the accident site, Angikar’s father said.
"My wife literally fell to the feet of a police officer who was there, asking him to tell the truth," said Dr Dasgupta. “After this, we learnt he had been taken to the Barasat Government Hospital.”
On the way to Barasat, quite far away, around 6:12 pm the family got a call from a person whom they later identified as one Raju Das.
“First, we were told that Raju Das is a civic volunteer; then we learnt that he is not even a civic volunteer, he is a contract employee of the Calcutta Metro who was appointed because of the traffic issues. So my question is, how is he entitled to carry my son to the government hospital?” Dr Anjan Dasgupta told The Telegraph Online.
Upon arriving at Barasat Hospital at 6:45 pm, they were told their son had passed away. The police didn’t even wait for the family to arrive before shifting the body to the morgue.
“We found him in a dark room lying on a stretcher; nobody even cared to wipe the blood from his body,” the father said.
“We asked the doctors whether an ECG was conducted, which we learned was not done. They did that only once after we insisted and the reports were obviously blank, as our son was gone. As per the rules, you cannot declare a person dead who has met with an accident without doing ECG. We were sitting on the floor blankly as we did not know what to do,” he said.
At every turn, the family said, police and hospital staff acted as if the life of their son didn’t matter. When Agnikar’s grandfather begged to see him one last time, he was pushed by a police officer. When Dr Dasgupta intervened, he was beaten, dragged to the police van, and forced to sign a blank form, he said.
Later, a CT scan revealed he had suffered a hematoma from the assault. “The policeman who beat me up was Tapas Mandal. My wife was also pushed by a male police officer,” Dr Dasgupta said.
The Telegraph Online spoke to assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Rajkumar Nandi, duty officer of Barasat police station, who confirmed that ASI Tapas Mandal “is the camp in-charge of the Barasat hospital”.
Asked about the family’s allegations, ASI Nandi said: “I am not aware of such a case and allegations as it [the case] was not registered. Whatever happens day to day in the hospital is not known to us.”
Sub-inspector Jayanta Mohanta, in charge of the accident monitoring cell, told The Telegraph Online: “My part is simply related to the investigation of this case. I am not aware of whatever happened in Barasat as I have not seen it. Dr Anjan Dasgupta has filed a petition for this incident and it will be investigated by a separate team. I am taking my time to investigate the case deeply and I am not rushing it.”
Dr Dasgupta said that the police took Angikar to the nearby Charnock Hospital in a rickshaw. “which was a good decision as they didnt wait for the ambulance. However, Charnock hospital is just 100 meters from there, just across the road. When we cross checked the CCTV footage of the hospital we saw they took my child in walking, with his foot shaking. They didn’t even carry in such a condition. Then they shifted him to an ambulance outside the hospital, a doctor from the hospital visited the ambulance and again no ECG was done.”
The family was also shocked when they found that the driver and conductor of the bus that hit Angikar were charged under bailable sections despite initial promises that they would face non-bailable charges.
“I have lost everything,” said Kasturi Sengupta, Agnikar’s mother, her voice breaking. “My son wanted to be like Satyajit Ray. I don’t know for what reason I am left in this world.”
The CCTV footage shown to the family didn’t capture the accident. Agnikar’s personal belongings, his purse and watch had gone missing while he was under police supervision, the family said.
“We are completely shattered,” Dr. Dasgupta said. “If we don’t hope for justice, we’ll collapse.”
Angikar’s younger brother still believes his older brother is in school and will return home soon.
According to latest data available from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, road crashes increased by 14.65 per cent and road fatalities rose by 3.48 per cent in one year from 2021 to 2022 in West Bengal.
