| FLASHBACK |
| September 1992: Nehar Bano was crying on the pavement in front of her shanty near Phoolbagan police station. She told concerned onlookers she had been picked up and raped in the police station barracks. After political outcry, she was taken to the police station to lodge a complaint. 48 hours later, police arrested constable Nilkamal Ghosh and within a week, three others, including Sanatan Murmu. |
It was a crime he didn?t commit, but one for which he has paid a price far worse than a jail term. Sanatan Murmu, acquitted by a court of law for a rape 12 years ago, has paid with his sanity.
One of four policemen arrested on charges of raping pavement-dweller Nehar Bano inside the barracks of Phoolbagan police station in 1992, Murmu was cleared by court but condemned by his peers, turned out of home by family, rejected by friends and even dismissed from service.
After over a year behind bars, Murmu found himself with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.
Now, Murmu hangs around police stations, and is sometimes even found in front of Lalbazar police headquarters. He survives on scraps thrown his way by former colleagues.
?He has turned mad,? said Timir Bhattacharya, officer-in-charge, Jorasanko police station. ?Murmu seems aware that he once used to be a constable, which might be why he generally roams around thanas,? he added.
?Murmu, Nilkamal Ghosh and two others were identified after Nehar Bano filed a complaint alleging that she had been picked up around midnight and raped in the police station. The officers were suspended,? recalled a senior officer who had been on the case.
The detective department, in charge of the investigation, filed a chargesheet against the accused. The sleuths successfully proved Nilkamal and two others guilty but failed to establish Murmu?s guilt.
He was acquitted by Alipore court, while Nilkamal, the prime accused, was sentenced to life and the others to a few years? imprisonment.
Murmu was apparently only involved as he had been sleeping in the room where the crime had been committed, according to investigators. ?There was no strong evidence against Murmu. He was dismissed from his job but could not be proved guilty,? said an officer who had been assigned to Phoolbagan thana at the time of the crime.
Murmu found he had nowhere to go. ?When Murmu was released from jail, he went home to Bankura, but his family turned him out. He came back to the city and has been living on the pavements ever since,? said a south Calcutta police officer.
The man, last seen in rags in front of St Andrew?s Church, near Lalbazar, still has a salute for passing officers as feeble memories of a policeman?s past.
