Kolkata hospital violence: In Belgachhia, Paikpara, Cossipore, people discuss role of 'para boys' in RG Kar ransack
Times of India | 18 August 2024
Many of the arrests were done from Goabagan KOLKATA: The arrest of more than two dozen youths from various north Kolkata neighbourhoods after the vandalism at R G Kar Hospital on the night of Aug 15 has turned the spotlight on the role of "para boys", many of whom are associated with local clubs and play their part in mobilising crowds during political rallies and meetings.
While police have announced the names of those arrested from localities, such as Phool Bagan, Nagar Bazar, Dum Dum Road, Ultadanga, Muraripukur Road, Maniktala and Muktarambabu Street, they are yet to show the two dozen youths, picked up from localities near R G Kar, like Belgachhia, Sarkar Bagan, Dattabagan, Saudagar Patti, Paikpara, Cossipore and Chitpore, on their arrest list.This has lent credence to a theory that while the ransacking of the protest platform was planned, it might have triggered a larger mob to vandalise the hospital.
"The ransacking of the doctors' protest platform at R G Kar was orchestrated to disrupt the movement and vilify the mass gatherings that evening. Around 40-50 youths in shorts and sleeveless vests or t-shirts from nearby slums, like Belgachhia, Sarkar Bagan and Dattabagan, pulled down police barricades at the hospital gate, ransacked the protest platform and broke chairs and fans. As word of the chaos spread, others in and around R G Kar, including some who had gone to protest, rushed into the campus. These men were dressed in shirts and trousers and did not appear to be from the locality. As mob frenzy took over, they forced their way in and joined the local youths to vandalise the emergency wing," said a member of one of the five Aman committees at Belgachhia slum who was present at R G Kar that night.
Residents of areas mear the hospital didn't rule out political connection to the vandalism. "The youths picked up from the Dum Dum-Cossipore belt to Belgachhia-Tallah are known to be close to local party functionaries," said a resident of the Belgachhia model slum. A resident of Muraripukur, from where multiple arrests were made, concurred that the arrest list showed that the cops had acted against those who had joined the vanadalism in a misplaced expression of anger against the rape and murder of the PGT doctor. Those who had started the rampage and vandalised the protest platform had been picked up by police but are yet to figure on the arrest list, they said.
Neighbours of several of those arrested said the men were not known to be violent but admitted that when mob psychology took over, even those apparently sane tended to act differently. "Who knows what happened there that night? Sonu went there to protest. We don't know how he figured in the CCTV footage among those vandalising the hospital," said a resident of Duttabagan in Paikpara, where cops are searching for Sonu Das, a food delivery agent.