Biswadeep Bhattacharya: Fatal blow

A daughter testified against her father in a city court on Monday to do justice to the memory of her elder brother.

Neha Bhattacharya, 12, recounted vividly — and with the same composure that she shows while facing opponents across the table tennis board — how her taskmaster father Dipak flung a practice bat at her brother Biswadeep on January 8 last year for missing a ball during a training session at home.

Biswadeep collapsed on the floor and could not be revived.

The only witness to the incident, Neha recounted the sequence of events before the judge of the fifth Alipore fast track court, Pradip Burman. Mother Papia sat quietly in the courtroom throughout the 30 minutes that her daughter spoke.

“It was 9am in the morning of January 8, 2007, when Dada (Biswadeep) and I went to the practice room on the third floor of our house in Bansdroni. Around 10am, our father reached the room and warned Dada not to miss a shot,” the girl said.

Neha recalled that Dipak first targeted her brother, who was part of the medal-winning Bengal team in the Cadet sub-junior national table tennis championship in Chennai in 2004, with a shoe. “But the shoe did not hit him. My father then told Dada that he would have to face worse if he missed another ball.”

After a while, Biswadeep missed another ball and Dipak, known to be hot-headed, allegedly reached for the bat kept on the table next to where he was seated.

“The shadow-practice bat hit Dada in his lower abdomen and he fell down and lost consciousness. My father rushed to him, removed his T-shirt and saw that the injury spot had turned blue. He asked me to call our mother and send her to the local medicine store.”

Papia, her daughter said, informed neighbours about what had happened and ran to the nearest pharmacy. “I called Dilip Mahapatra, the owner of the flat adjacent to our house… After a while, our mother returned with medicines, but our neighbours suggested that we take Dada to a nearby hospital.” Biswadeep was declared dead on arrival at MR Bangur Hospital.

Lawyers said Neha’s statements had strengthened the case against Dipak, charged under Section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide amounting to murder). “What struck us was the calm and firm manner in which the minor girl deposed in court,” one of them said.