Student leader Sudipta Gupta’s death sparks row in Bengal

Apr 03, 2013

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Kolkata/New Delhi: In a major embarrassment for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a CPM student was allegedly killed in police custody on Tuesday.
Eyewitnesses said Sudipta Gupta (22) was brutally thrashed by the police while he was leading a protest march in Kolkata. But the Chief Minister maintained that the student leader died when he put his head out while being taken in a police van and that his head hit a lamp post.
The incident happened when SFI supporters gathered in Rani Rasmoni area of Kolkata in connection with a protest rally to demand holding of college union elections in the state.
Speaking to the press, a distraught father of Sudipta said he would fight for justice at any cost.
Left parties have condemned the incident saying this was yet another proof of lawlessness in Bengal. Local leaders in Kolkata have called for a bandh.
Expressing anger over the death of Gupta, Union minister Manish Tewari has said the West Bengal government should overcome partisan politics and ensure justice in the case. "As a student/youth activist who often was at the receiving end of the tender mercies of police feel sad and angry at Sudipta Gupta's death," Tewari said in a post on social networking website Twitter. "Hope the government of W Bengal that consists of former Chattra Parishad/ Youth Congress activists would surmount partisan politics for justice," he added.

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