Immersion revellers target senior citizen, others after noise protest
Times of India | 6 November 2024
Kolkata: A 65-year-old man, his family members and other residents of a high-rise were thrashed by Kali Puja immersion revellers at Ariadaha on Monday midnight after the victims raised objections to random bursting of loud firecrackers. The revellers reportedly tried to attack the cops when the latter tried to intervene. Six persons, including a woman, have been arrested by Dakshineswar police.
According to local sources, the attack took place around 1.30 am on Tuesday when a Kali Puja immersion procession approached from Belgharia Rathtala More along Ariadaha Feeder Road. "When the procession was passing by Mousumi More off Ariadaha Feeder Road, the members of the immersion party were bursting firecrackers randomly and playing loud music. It took more than half an hour for the procession to cross barely 150 metres at Mousumi More," a local woman said.
Unable to bear the deafening noise, an elderly man — Goutam Mukherjee, a resident of an apartment adjacent to Ariadaha Feeder Road, came out and protested. "As Mukherjee objected to the bursting of banned firecrackers, the revellers launched an attack on the elderly man. The accused, all of them drunk, started beating him up. While his family members and other residents tried to rescue him, they were thrashed as well," said Debasish Sarkar, a resident of the apartment.
"My son pleaded with the revellers to stop the bursting of loud firecrackers but they turned violent and attacked us. Others who tried to save us also came under attack," Mukherjee said.
After being informed, a police team from Dakshineswar police station rushed to the spot and arrested six persons, including a woman, for the attack. "During the arrest, the revellers attempted an attack on the cops as well. All six accused were produced in a Barrackpore court on Tuesday," a senior police officer of the Barrackpore commissionerate said.