At a time when chief minister Mamata Banerjee is busy branding the incidents of violence against women as “fabricated”, a brave constable of the Kolkata police died in his bid to save his niece’s dignity from eve-teasers. The victim, Asim Kumar Dam, 50, was a constable at the Entally police station. He was a resident of Birati in North 24 Parganas.
On March 8, a kirtan was underway at his house at Nabajiban Colony in Bisharpara as part of Holi celebrations. “My elder brother was engrossed in kirtan and so was our niece. Soon, three local youth came and started teasing our niece. My elder brother protested. The youth left threatening to come back,” Asim’s younger brother Sekhar recalled.
The victim’s niece alleged: “The eve-teasers are backed by the CPI(M). At around 3.15 pm, Abhi Ghosh, Jahar Ghosh, Biswhajit Ghosh, Debu Mukherjee and three others stormed into our house with sticks, rods and a knife and beat up my uncles. Debu stabbed boro mama (elder uncle Asim). They also thrashed me and my grandmother.” A complaint was lodged against the seven accused with the Airport police station.
With deep head injuries, Asim was rushed to a local hospital from where he was shifted to Apollo Gleneagles Hospital off EM Bypass. At around 8.15 am on Sunday, the police constable lost his battle for life and succumbed to his injuries. His family members broke down in tears as the news of his death arrived.
Asim’s niece on Sunday informed that no one had been arrested so far. To hush up their fault, officers of the Airport police station first cooked up a story arguing that the incident was the outcome of a land dispute and then claimed of receiving no complaint of eve teasing.
Later, local MLA and minister of state for health Chandrima Bhattacharya met the victim’s family and asked the police to arrest the culprits by Sunday night. She said, “An extreme incident occurred over a trivial issue. This should not have happened. The women were not even spared. This family earlier was the supporter of Congress, and now supports Trinamul Congress. The CPI(M)-backed miscreants are involved in the crime.”
Additional deputy commissioner of police (airport) Tarun Halder said, “We are giving importance to the complaint of eve teasing. A probe is underway. No one has been arrested.” He, however, could not clarify the charges against the accused.
After post-mortem, the body of the constable was brought to the Entally police station where he had been posted for the past one year. His colleagues paid their last respects to him.