Drunk civic cop drives Kolkata Police bike into protest site, held after 5-hour blockade
Times of India | 1 September 2024
KOLKATA: A drunk civic volunteer riding a Kolkata Police motorcycle crashed into a barricaded section of BT Road near Sinthee More where Rabindra Bharati University students were protesting the RG Kar Hopsital rape-murder in the early hours of Saturday. He rode over graffiti and paintings on the road and got into a heated argument with the students, accusing them of illegally occupying the road and insisting that he needed to pass though the stretch to reach home.He was cornered by the students, but a traffic sergeant from Sinthee PS reached the spot, escorted him out and let him go. A video of the incident has now gone viral.
Following the incident around 3am, RBU students, several of them from Fine Arts and Drama departments, along with university alumni blocked the arterial BT Road for nearly five hours demanding penal action against the civic volunteer as well as the sergeant who came to his rescue. They also gheraoed the sergeant, Tarakeswar Kumar Puri, for several hours. It was only after cops filed an FIR against the civic volunteer and furnished it before the students around 8.30am that the blockade was lifted.
The civic volunteer, Gangasagar Gond, who is attached to Sinthee PS, was later arrested. The incident comes days after another Kolkata Police civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, was arrested for the brutal rape and murder of a young PGT doctor at RG Kar Medical College & Hospital. It was later found that he, too, used a Kolkata Police bike.
According to police, the students had taken permission to hold the protest at Sinthee More and a lane on the north-bound flank was blocked for them to draw graffitti and paint messages.
Promising strict action, a senior police officer at Lalbazar said both Gond and Puri had been closed. According to police, the students had taken permission to hold the protest at Sinthee More and a lane on the north-bound flank was blocked for them to draw graffitti and paint messages.
Promising strict action against the civic cop, a senior officer at Lalbazar said, "We have drawn up the FIR under Section 219 of BNS (negligent driving) and 185 of Motor Vehicles Act (drunk driving). Gond has been closed from work. We have asked Puri to also not report to work. We have decided to close him too till the time we get department reports to ascertain if there was any dereliction of duty."
Koyel Sain, who was among those protesting at the site said trouble erupted when the drunk civic volunteer rode his bike over their drawings. "He also misbehaved with us, There were several female students. A sergeant arrived at the scene and instead of detaining the civic cop, he let him go. This led to further unrest," she said.
Suchandra Das, who was present at the protest site, said in a social media post, "Yet again, it is a civic volunteer breaking the law. On Friday, I attended a gathering called by RBU at Sinthee More. We began doing street paintings around 12.30am. My brother and I were there. From 2 am, police cars started unnecessarily driving over the paintings. We returned around 2.15am. The painting and protest were still going on. Then, the civic volunteer deliberately drove into the barriacaded area, sparking trouble."
Senjuti Bhattacharya, one of the protesters, questioned why the administration was so protective of civic volunteers. "Why are they granted such privileges? These civic volunteers have become so unruly that police officers who secured their govt positions through competitive examinations are embarrassed by their behaviour," she said.