A student leader was thrown off the roof of his house in Howrah’s Amta past Friday midnight, triggering widespread protests not seen since the death of SFI member Sudipta Gupta in 2013.
On Saturday evening, a candlelight vigil was carried out in Park Circus area in memory of Anis, 28, who was associated with the Indian Secular Front led by Abbas Siddiqui.
Anis was at his home in a locality in Amta when well after midnight four men came in search of him. One of them wore a police uniform and had a weapon in hand, while the others were in plainclothes.
“Four men came to our house around 1am and started banging the gate. They were shouting Anis’s name. I knew he had gone out in the evening, I didn’t know if he had returned,” said Salaam Khan, Anis’ father.
After the gate was opened, the armed man pointed it at Salaam while the rest went upstairs
The family members said they could hear a scuffle upstairs. A little later Anis was thrown off the roof on the fourth floor
The local Amta police station has denied sending any men to the victim’s house last night.
An alumni of Aliah University, Anis was currently studying at Kalyani University but was at the forefront of an ongoing movement against the poor functioning of the minority university.
“For 137 days students and ex-students at m Aliah University have been on a dharna to save their educational institute. I can’t think of a more heinous crime against a student,” said Mohammad Salim, CPM central committee member
Students allege that funds for the university are being held back and teachers are not being appointed, while a dispute has arisen over the plot in Park Circus area where a campus of the university is located
Over a month ago, water and power connections to the hostel were disconnected citing the pandemic and students ordered to vacate. The connections were later restored.
In 2013, Sudipta Gupta, a post-graduate from Rabindra Bharati University, was killed in police custody following his arrest during a demonstration. Sudipta was a state committee member of the CPM’s students’ wing SFI
Anis was earlier associated with the SFI but later shifted to the Indian Secular Front, floated by the Hooghly religious leader, Abbas Siddiqui.
The lone ISF legislator, Naushad Siddiqui, said, “If the police do not conduct a thorough investigation we will move court against all the police officers who were present at the police station on Friday.”
A family member Sajid said, the men who had knocked on their door referred to an old case registered against Anis with the Bagnan police station. Officers from both the Amta and Bagnan police stations have denied sending any teams to the locality where Anis stayed last night.
"No teams were sent from these two police stations. A case has been registered under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code," said Saumya Roy, superintendent of police Horwah (Rural).
