‘You Bengali speakers must be Bangladeshis’: Calcutta University students attacked by hawkers with hockey sticks, rods, and knives; 4 injured
Times of India | 21 August 2025
KOLKATA: "You Bengali speakers must be Bangladeshis"—Calcutta University students staying at Carmichael Hostel were beaten up by Hindi-speaking hawkers at Sealdah Bridge. Police arrested two persons in relation to this incident.
The incident began when a boarder on Wednesday night went to buy a mobile cover and was negotiating the price. He was heckled by a hawker who called him a Bangladeshi for speaking Bengali. He returned with some fellow boarders to protest, but the hawker, along with other hawkers, surrounded them and abused them, asking them to speak in Hindi. While returning to their hostel, they were attacked from behind by the hawkers, who were allegedly carrying hockey sticks, rods, and knives.
Four boarders were brutally beaten up. They sustained serious injuries and were rushed to the Medical College and Hospital for primary treatment. A written complaint was lodged at Muchipara Police Station at midnight, while a sit-in protest led by Chhatra Parishad was staged outside the police station, demanding that the accused be arrested.
| Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in KolkataElius Akhtar, one of the injured students, said, "We modestly told the accused to apologise to our fellow boarder, but he was not ready to do so and asked us to speak in Hindi. We refused, saying this is Bengal where we speak in Bangla. He started using abusive language towards us, calling us Bangladeshis, while other hawkers joined in. We were returning to the hostel when they attacked us and brutally beat us with rods and hockey sticks, and they were also carrying knives.
" Among these four injured students, one is a fourth-year law student who has a semester examination today
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